When a parcel arrives at my doorstep, I see myself at the end of a supply chain process—a process which involved multiple operations from procurement, manufacturing, to logistics. But I could care less. What mattered is I got my parcel and the items I ordered. The individuals in the respective supply chain processes which enabledContinue reading “The Need to Change the Supply Chain”
Tag Archives: suppliers
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”
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”
Shifting the Supply Chain Management Paradigm
Supply chains consist of interdependent relationships within and between enterprises. No one enterprise dominates an entire supply chain, though many have tried. And because we who work in supply chains participate in these relationships, we need to learn to work with each other, if not together. We, therefore, require a paradigm shift. Most of usContinue reading “Shifting the Supply Chain Management Paradigm”
Why We Need to Collaborate & Not Accommodate in Improving Supply Chains
We formalise our supply chain relationships via agreements we forge with our partners, who are our vendors, 3rd party service providers, & customers. We manage our supply chain operations to ensure we perform to the agreed expectations of our partners. Most supply chains have existing infrastructure in place when we negotiate with our partners. OurContinue reading “Why We Need to Collaborate & Not Accommodate in Improving Supply Chains”
Bridging the Supply Chain Management-Engineering Gap
Engineers turn scientific ideas into reality. They do it by identifying problems, studying the data, and finally solving them. Engineers apply concepts from the pure sciences, such as Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, & Biology. We see these concepts come to life in the fields of civil, electrical, mechanical, & chemical engineering, and in their sub-specialties suchContinue reading “Bridging the Supply Chain Management-Engineering Gap”
What Our Customers Expect
What do our customers expect from us? The Total Quality movement from the 1980’s preached that the people we work with are either “suppliers” or “customers.” We played the role of either one. The idea of TQM was to do the right thing right the first time when we, as “suppliers,” serve our “customers.” WeContinue reading “What Our Customers Expect”
Ellery's Essays 