In March of 1911, Frederick Winslow Taylor’s The Principles of Scientific Management debuted to the public. It was the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States of America. Corporations were mass producing items and many Americans were employed in factories. Mr. Taylor’s Principles couldn’t have come at a better time as when itContinue reading “The Science Behind Management & Why We Need Engineering”
Tag Archives: supply chain management
The Basic Tasks of Management vs. The Basic Tasks of Engineering
Management is the predominant means in how we run our organisations. It’s been like that since the late 19th century, when we adopted capitalism into our society to cultivate the prosperity & wealth resulting from the Industrial Revolution. Business was getting more complex when it came to all the money we were earning. We neededContinue reading “The Basic Tasks of Management vs. The Basic Tasks of Engineering”
We Need Engineers to Solve Supply Chain Problems, Not Managers
We encounter lots of problems with supply chains. But how serious are these problems? How do we as managers prioritise which problems we will put most of our time and resources into? When the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March 2020, governments immediately restricted the movements of people and merchandise. Continue reading “We Need Engineers to Solve Supply Chain Problems, Not Managers”
Value Chains, Supply Chains, & Our Wrong Mindsets
Michael Porter introduced the Value Chain model in his seminal book, Competitive Advantage,1 in 1985. The value chain broke down activities of the firm (the enterprise) and how they collectively contribute to the value of products & services. How well activities perform and interrelate would manifest in the margins, which are the difference between valueContinue reading “Value Chains, Supply Chains, & Our Wrong Mindsets”
Negotiations Won’t Solve Our Supply Chain Crisis
During a Philippine Senate hearing conducted on June 21, 2023, the chief commercial officer of Cebu Pacific Airlines apologised for recent passenger service disruptions in which he added: “We recognize that global supply chain issues are further worsening the situation and causing additional delays in aircraft deliveries. As a result, we have experienced delays rangingContinue reading “Negotiations Won’t Solve Our Supply Chain Crisis”
Comparing Supply Chain Management versus Supply Chain Engineering
What’s the difference between supply chain management (SCM) and supply chain engineering (SCE)? Supply chain management is the management of people, structures, & systems that underlie the relationships of functions which enable the flow of merchandise & services from their sources to their destinations and users. SCMs work with existing systems & structures as theyContinue reading “Comparing Supply Chain Management versus Supply Chain Engineering”
Starting with the Symptoms
We encounter frequent symptoms with our supply chains. One reason is our supply chains are large in scope. Supply chains start from the source (e.g. mining of raw materials, harvest of agricultural crops), pass through a multitude of activities that supposedly add value (e.g., procurement, storage, manufacturing, handling, dispatch, transport), and end with our targetContinue reading “Starting with the Symptoms”
Managing Performance
We as supply chain managers typically oversee the following: It’s all part of our job to be perfect in serving customers and productive in meeting the standards of our superiors. We manage demand to synchronise supply. We manage inventories to make available products & services and make sure we don’t have too much (or tooContinue reading “Managing Performance”
Managing Inventory
One common priority we have as supply chain managers is managing inventories. We make items available when needed but at the same time make sure we don’t have too much that ties up our enterprises’ money. Sometimes, inventory management takes so much of our time that it dominates our job more than anything else. InventoryContinue reading “Managing Inventory”
Managing Demand
Supply chains had been under a lot of pressure. Since year 2020, supply chain managers had to deal with shortages in merchandise and rising costs for reasons traced to the coronavirus pandemic, natural disasters, deteriorating trade relations between countries, and military conflicts. The need for supply chain engineering was mentioned repeatedly as a newContinue reading “Managing Demand”
Ellery's Essays 