Late one Sunday morning, while driving, I had a craving for an extra-long chicken sandwich from my favourite fast-food restaurant. I stopped by the restaurant’s nearest fast-food drive-thru only to hear the lady’s voice from the box say the sandwich is out of stock. When calling the hotline of another fast-food restaurant close to 12Continue reading “Fast-Food Doesn’t Mean Available”
Author Archives: Ellery
Missing in Supply Chains: Productivity
If there’s one thing I find missing in every business news story I’ve read, it’s: productivity. If there is an article about productivity, it usually is in the context of labour efficiency or how much output workers churn out over a given period. Some media writers define productivity as to how many tasks we completeContinue reading “Missing in Supply Chains: Productivity”
Five (5) Lessons from an Elevator Story
A high-rise building (let’s call it Building A) has been fixing its nine (9) elevators for the last twelve (12) years. Several times an elevator would fail, and passengers would get stuck, causing trauma and panic. Fortunately, the building’s security quickly rescued trapped passengers and suspended access to the dysfunctional elevators. But for the building’sContinue reading “Five (5) Lessons from an Elevator Story”
Four Remedies to Mitigate Bias
I won’t lease an office to a Korean. Every Korean I did business with didn’t pay the rent on time. Many golf country clubs in the Philippines won’t accept Korean golfers as members. This is because Koreans don’t follow proper etiquette at the golf courses. They shout at other people, don’t wait their turns,Continue reading “Four Remedies to Mitigate Bias”
If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen
I went to a lunch with former high schoolmates I’ve not seen in years. Most of us were glad to see each other. One of my schoolmates, an esteemed cardiologist, however, didn’t want to make conversation with me; he seemed to prefer to talk to other schoolmates who were either medical doctors or scientists withContinue reading “If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen”
What Do We Do with ‘Bad Orders?’
One of the most irritating things in supply chain management is handling returned items from customers. We spend plenty of our precious time & resources trying to get rid of them. ‘Bad orders’ or BO for short are otherwise known as unsaleable merchandise or trade returns. BO is a commonplace term in the consumer goodsContinue reading “What Do We Do with ‘Bad Orders?’”
Avoiding the Wrong Supply Chain Strategy
One mistake enterprise owners make is to use the wrong supply chain strategy for their products. The effects can be costly. The following are some true-to-life cases: Many enterprise owners hire executives or engage consultants that have no knowledge or experience about the products they will work with. In many cases, the executives or consultantsContinue reading “Avoiding the Wrong Supply Chain Strategy”
Building the Supply Chain at Both Ends
A supply chain essentially has two (2) ends: the suppliers (e.g., vendors, service providers) and the customers (e.g., clients, consumers, users). We who manage our businesses work both ends at the same time as our suppliers see us as customers and our customers see us as suppliers. We multitask as both suppliers and customers. InContinue reading “Building the Supply Chain at Both Ends”
The Real Value of Demand Forecasting
“We start our planning with the forecast.” This is what I’ve heard in the last three (3) organizations I’ve engaged with. These three (3) organizations often started their Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) meetings with a comparison of forecast versus actual sales data. In most cases, the actual sales data didn’t come out close toContinue reading “The Real Value of Demand Forecasting”
Multi-Tasking: Burning the Candle at Both Ends
We work in a world where multitasking is the norm. If we don’t work on at least two (2) things at the same time, chances are we won’t get much done in a day. Some of us admire those who multi-task while some others frown on those who do. Those who are against multitasking argueContinue reading “Multi-Tasking: Burning the Candle at Both Ends”
Ellery's Essays 