On the 6th Day of Christmas my supply chain gave to me…

… geese a laying

Not just any geese; the geese that lay the golden eggs.

Unfortunately, too often we squash the eggs in our handling of our supply chains.

Maybe not intentionally, but let’s take a quick look at 6 areas where some of your golden geese can be found that may be getting squashed:

• Many times, I hear from supply chain professionals and even managers that yes, we create plans, but we really don’t use them – we adjust as needed in real time.

 

But what if adjustment isn’t necessary if you work closely with those who develop forecasts (perhaps powered with AI or other technology) that may be trained to the point that accuracy is no longer a problem for demand planning? Could your manual adjustments be squashing a golden egg?

• Robust supply chain networks are required for agility. However, they cost more. If you are constrained from being robust due to constraints on spend, could you be squashing another golden egg?

 

• This one is interesting with the near-shoring, friend-shoring, in country manufacturing development, etc. Your solutions require strategizing based on where you do business, what your backup plans for agility require, and an understanding of both cost and lead times. To help, are you supporting those geese with the golden eggs that train potential employees close by your manufacturing areas?

 

• With logistics being in the forefront of your company’s image-making, are you strategizing how to make sure it delivers gold to your customers each and every time? What is the real metric your main customer group requires? What about the second-most important group? Then the third… Can you achieve the measurement based on the way your customers measure success? It’s the only way that counts. Hint: there may be a different metric for every major customer grouping – here’s where SCOR can help you coordinate and optimize.

 

• Inventory Management. Are you still using yesterday’s metrics? Safety stock and other inventory controls need to change based on your level of agility and your workforce capabilities. All customers expect agility to differing degrees. Have you coordinated with the previous 4 areas to make sure processes and networks are updated for the flexibility needed to create gold instead of scrambled eggs?

 

• They’re important for circularity. If you don’t have the means or mastery to handle Returned goods, do you have a partner, or partners, that can? Are you able to reuse/remanufacture/uplevel/downlevel/etc. to keep your product value up, materials recirculating, and more gold in your coffers?

 

Even if you’ve been using continuous improvement to optimize the above areas, have you coordinated holistically? Because End-2-End supply chain improvement is where the true gold eggs are found in today’s fast-moving economies.

End-2-End, holistic supply chain agility also happens to be a top priority for your company’s executives.

Can you supply the needed golden eggs?

#supplychainperformance #supplychain #procurement #planning #manufacturing #logistics #inventorymanagement #circularity #gold #goldeneggs #SCOR #ProcessandStrategy #CynthiaKalinaKaminsky

Cynthia Kalina-Kaminsky is an ASCM Master SCOR instructor and consultant, and a supply chain professional.  With you and your company, she uses SCOR as a foundation for supply chain innovation, transformation, digital capability building, and sustainable/resilient supply chain performance you and your business can depend on. Learn more here