Managers of a large food condiments manufacturer bragged that their finished products Inventory Record Accuracy (IRA) was 99%. They added that they met this level constantly, not just when I as a consultant was there auditing the manufacturer’s supply chain operations. How do you compute the IRA? I asked the warehouse manager. The warehouse officeContinue reading “Inventory Record Accuracy: A Step to Supply Chain Improvement”
Tag Archives: enterprise
What Do You Want from Supply Chains?
There is no straightforward answer to this question. Supply chains have multiple stakeholders. These stakeholders consist of individuals and enterprises which serve as the links of the supply chains. Every enterprise also has an internal supply chain, which makes the people of the enterprise stakeholders to the larger supply chain. Stakeholders, therefore, would differ onContinue reading “What Do You Want from Supply Chains?”
What’s the Metric for Resilience?
Many executives insist their organisations need to be resilient. Given all the adversities and disruptions businesses had experienced, it’s understandable to believe resilience is vital. Resilience is “an organization’s ability to adapt to and recover from disruptions, such as natural disasters or market shifts, while maintaining core operations and continuing to function.” But how doesContinue reading “What’s the Metric for Resilience?”
What the Supply Chain Must Be
There are many things we like supply chains to be. Popular examples are resilient, sustainable, and agile. For some of those at the end of the chain, they’d simply want them to be dependable or on time, especially when it comes to deliveries. And for many supply chain professionals, they’d want vendor supplies to beContinue reading “What the Supply Chain Must Be”
Make It Visible
The planet Earth and its Solar System reside in the Milky Way galaxy, a spiral collection of a 100 to 400 billion stars. Yes, that’s billion, not million, and far more than a thousand or hundred. We can only see only a few thousand of stars in the night sky and only so much moreContinue reading “Make It Visible”
Dedicate, Not Commit
Commitment is placing the highest priority to another. When people marry, they commit; they promise to put their partners above everything else. Enterprises try to enrol employees to do the same. Managers expect subordinates to place first-priority to their jobs. I don’t commit to employers; I dedicate. Dedication is compliance to mutually agreed contracts. FocusContinue reading “Dedicate, Not Commit”
The Supply Chain Surrounds Every Product
The enterprise sells, its customers order, and the enterprise delivers. This constitutes the basic process of demand fulfilment. As the enterprise creates demand through marketing & sales, it fulfils it. The enterprise and the customer agree on the terms and conditions of the latter’s order. Delivery of the order should arrive at the right place,Continue reading “The Supply Chain Surrounds Every Product”
Arguing for Engineering
Engineers have been the go-to people to solve problems or implement pre-decided solutions. Engineers build edifices architects design, install equipment which executives prefer, and fix things that were creating problems no one else could solve. Engineers deal with the complicated technical stuff like designing rockets and constructing skyscrapers, repairing nuclear reactors, setting up oil drillingContinue reading “Arguing for Engineering”
The First Step is Always the Hardest
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” In building a supply chain, that single first step can be a doozy. When we construct a home or facility, the first thing we think we of doing is plan. Seek a site. Draft a layout. Determine our budget. Schedule the construction. But thatContinue reading “The First Step is Always the Hardest”
The Changing & Un-Changing Supply Chain
Since Keith Oliver and a Mr. Van ’t Hoff coined the phrase in the 1980s, supply chain management has evolved from an obscure middle-management responsibility to a high-echelon business priority. Supply chains had become hot topics in executive suites and business school lecture halls. At the same time, operations managers face endless enigmatic problems asContinue reading “The Changing & Un-Changing Supply Chain”
Ellery's Essays 