Tag Archives: supply chain management

Three Questions Every New Manager Should Ask

Every new manager should always ask three (3) questions about an operation he or she will be in charge of: What does the book say should be happening? What do the people say should be happening? What is really happening?  Chances are each answer would be totally different from the others.  What does the bookContinue reading “Three Questions Every New Manager Should Ask”

Just About Every Enterprise is a Supply Chain Enterprise

I and ten million people in Manila have the same problem every day.  Mobile phone reception—it’s lousy.  It would take several tries to call someone on my mobile phone and when I do, chances are the conversation would stop in the middle.  Poor cellular reception is a norm in the Philippines.  It’s just so hardContinue reading “Just About Every Enterprise is a Supply Chain Enterprise”

Supply Chains Must Have These Five (5) Traits

What’s all the fuss about supply chains? An Evergreen container ship, the Ever Given, got stuck at the Suez Canal in late March 2021.  The solution was simple:  dig out the sand it’s grounded on and tow the ship to a nearby lake.  Unfortunately, because it’s a big heavy ship and the Suez Canal isContinue reading “Supply Chains Must Have These Five (5) Traits”

Non-Moving Inventories: The Supply Chain’s Elephant in the Room

The phrase, “elephant in the room,” is said to have originated from a fable by Ivan Krylov that tells about “a man who goes to a museum and notices all sorts of tiny things, but fails to notice an elephant.”  It has become a favourite expression for an obvious problem or issue that for someContinue reading “Non-Moving Inventories: The Supply Chain’s Elephant in the Room”

What Organising Really Means

There are four (4) basic functions to management:  planning, organising, directing, and controlling.  We can picture what planning, directing, and controlling are.  They’re kind of straightforward and self-explanatory.  Organising, however, is not.  When we “organise,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind?  We perhaps think of putting our stuff in order, like filing awayContinue reading “What Organising Really Means”

Lessons Learned from E-Commerce

December 28, 2020.  We ordered the food but couldn’t find the riders to deliver them.  Our family of cousins, uncles, and aunts couldn’t be together for New Year’s Eve.  Reunions and parties were not allowed in lieu of ongoing restrictions brought on by the CoVID-19 pandemic.  Instead, we ordered food from a food shop andContinue reading “Lessons Learned from E-Commerce”

Behold The PSI: A Basic Tool for Supply Chain Planning

The PSI or Production-Sales-Inventory is a basic spreadsheet template for supply chain planners.  It looks like this: The PSI typically has three sections:  production, sales, and inventories.  Production represents the in-flow of an item or what’s going into inventory.  A basic example is finished goods input coming from a manufacturing operation’s output.  We can alsoContinue reading “Behold The PSI: A Basic Tool for Supply Chain Planning”

Why Shifting from the Month-End Surge to Delivery by Demand is Common Sense

“We just have to live with it,” the General Manager replied.  The GM was responding to my comment that month-end surges in sales orders were causing inefficiencies in the company’s logistics operations.  I was presenting an operations assessment report to a company that distributed name-brand computer printers and accessories.  One of the key observations fromContinue reading “Why Shifting from the Month-End Surge to Delivery by Demand is Common Sense”

Logistics Solutions Can Be Simple

A medium sized retailer of health food items imports products from abroad.  The retailer prides itself with a very well organised warehouse and a crew of workers that swiftly repack the imported products and send them to the retailer’s stores all over the country.  The retailer’s sales department, however, has constantly complained about lack ofContinue reading “Logistics Solutions Can Be Simple”