Quality is a strange subject. It’s strange because people talk about it a lot especially when they have a complaint or an admiration about a product or service. At the same time, people don’t seem to take it seriously especially when they settle for a cheaper product or service because they don’t have the budgetContinue reading “How Do We Define Quality?”
Tag Archives: enterprise
What is the Right Way to Serve Customers?
A manufacturer of metal parts hires a management consultant to help stimulate sales. The consultant at once suggests the manufacturer prioritise production of its top twenty (20) best-selling items. The manufacturer thus makes one month’s worth of stock of each of the twenty (20) top-selling items. Three (3) months later, the stock is hardly selling. Continue reading “What is the Right Way to Serve Customers?”
The Basics of Supply Chain Mapping
A map is a visual representation. In the context of supply chains, it describes the flow of operations and/or information pertaining to the procurement, transformation, and logistics of products and services. To put it another way, it’s a visual aid that shows what a supply chain looks like and how it functions. The simplest wayContinue reading “The Basics of Supply Chain Mapping”
Twelve (12) Things Supply Chain Engineers Do for Enterprises
Supply Chain Engineers (SCE’s) are much like any other engineer. Just as engineers design, build, and install structures and systems, SCE’s do the same specifically for supply chains. Supply chain engineers shape the networks, processes, and systems that underlie product and service streams. Their projects are either big and small. Project scopes can range fromContinue reading “Twelve (12) Things Supply Chain Engineers Do for Enterprises”
Bad Things Happen to Everyone
Asian airlines such as Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, and ANA are known for their excellence in customer service. A lot of people love flying with these airlines. But thanks to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, these same airlines are experiencing their worst business slump in recent memory. No one wants to fly these airlines not becauseContinue reading “Bad Things Happen to Everyone”
Why We Need to Build Supply Chains
Enterprises are planning to rebuild their supply chains in the wake of the pandemic of 2020. Well, no, not really. Many enterprises are planning to resume production and boost inventories in the aftermath of the COVID19 pandemic.1 Some firms will narrow their product lines to those that are in high demand (e.g. toilet paper). OthersContinue reading “Why We Need to Build Supply Chains”
A Letter to All Industrial Engineers: Time to Rise Up
Dear Industrial Engineer: I come to you as a fellow Industrial Engineer (IE) with a message. It’s time for us to rise up. For years, or should I say decades, Industrial Engineering (IE) has been an un-recognized engineering discipline. Many engineers—e.g. civil, mechanical, chemical, electrical—look at us as fakes. IndustrialContinue reading “A Letter to All Industrial Engineers: Time to Rise Up”
The World Needs Supply Chain Engineers
Not leaders. Not managers. Not business executives. We have plenty of leaders, both real and wannabes. Managers and executives too; we have enough. We need supply chain engineers. The global supply chain is a present-day 21st-century reality. We get much of our goods from all over the world. We buy shoes from Europe to sellContinue reading “The World Needs Supply Chain Engineers”
Where are the Supply Chain Experts?
Supply chain managers are noticeably invisible amid the COVID-19 crisis. There have been no supply chain executives standing beside national leaders as they made speeches and announcements. There have been rarely any interviews with supply chain experts about how to deal with shortages of food and difficulties in transportation. If there were, much of whateverContinue reading “Where are the Supply Chain Experts?”
We Need a Playbook and It’s the Last Thing We Need
Many enterprises and countries around the world have playbooks to deal with pandemics such as COVID-19. These range from ISO standards and those based on the United States’ Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), Center of Disease Control & Prevention, and even the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USARMIID). But asContinue reading “We Need a Playbook and It’s the Last Thing We Need”
