How much can we make? How much can we buy? How much can we deliver? These are typical questions executives ask their managers all the time. Executives often want straightforward answers; they’d rather be spared the complicated assumptions behind any of them. Calculating capacities can be a headache. It’s never really as straightforward as aContinue reading “The Three Capacity Types”
Tag Archives: The Supply Chain Engineer
The Nimble Supply Chain: Is It Even Possible?
Managers like things to turn out elegant. A well-laid out factory that produces flawlessly. A warehouse with more than enough storage space and material-handling equipment. A complete fleet of trucks that delivers all the orders without delay. A smoothly running purchasing system in which supplies and materials are bought at the best price and arriveContinue reading “The Nimble Supply Chain: Is It Even Possible?”
DRP, Deployment and the Role of the Supply Chain Engineer
Distribution Resource Planning (DRP) was my first assignment as supply chain planner for a large consumer goods firm. It was the late 1980’s and Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP 2) was at the height of popularity in the corporate world. The company I was working for was embarking on integrating MRP 2 in anContinue reading “DRP, Deployment and the Role of the Supply Chain Engineer”
The Feasibility Study Ends with a Plan, Not A Solution
The feasibility study consists of the following steps: It starts with defining the problem. It ends with a plan. A lot of people make the mistake of ending a feasibility study with a solution. After they have the answer, many of them neglect to ask “what’s next?” They rely on the stakeholders to figure thatContinue reading “The Feasibility Study Ends with a Plan, Not A Solution”
A Feasibility Study Starts with Defining the Problem
An employee has an idea and brings it to her boss. The boss says “good idea!” and forms a team to do a feasibility study. The team determines the idea feasible for a new product. The boss authorises the introduction of the new product. The product, however, does not sell. Customers think it’s too expensive. Continue reading “A Feasibility Study Starts with Defining the Problem”
Balancing Unstoppable Production and Benefiting from It
I used to work in a flat glass factory. The flat glass factory I worked at used float technology. It starts with a furnace that melts raw materials such as silica (sand), soda ash, dolomite, and limestone. Molten glass flows from the furnace to a tin bath, a chamber of molten tin, in which theContinue reading “Balancing Unstoppable Production and Benefiting from It”
Four (4) Supply Chain Scenarios and What to Do When They Change
We don’t know when it’s going to rain. So, we build dams. Dams are reservoirs, inventories of fresh water. Having a reservoir assures an adequate supply of water to meet the continuous demand of communities. Supply chain managers face a myriad of challenges in their operations. But one can categorise some of these challenges whenContinue reading “Four (4) Supply Chain Scenarios and What to Do When They Change”
What Is the Right Supply Chain Model for New Products?
A lot has to get done when it comes to launching a new product. Aside from marketing and selling, enterprise executives need to know how much to make, how much to stock, and how they’ll spread that stock. If the new product is replacing an older one, the enterprise would need to figure out whatContinue reading “What Is the Right Supply Chain Model for New Products?”
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?”
We Need Better Monitoring Systems
Most executives like performance measures. Otherwise known as metrics, key performance indicators (KPI’s), analytics, or scorecards, enterprises embrace performance measures as a means to assess how their businesses are doing. The point of a performance measure is to check how an individual or team is doing against a target that is set by superiors. (NoContinue reading “We Need Better Monitoring Systems”
Ellery's Essays 