Supply Chain Fundamental Rethinking

The rate of growth of the auto market will surely be one large trend for a long term.. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-20/volkswagen-expects-china-growth-to-slow-on-capacity-update2-.html

A good article.. http://www.scmr.com/article/global_supply_chain_disruptions_on_the_rise/

A perspective on integrating Sourcing & Procurement in Supply Chain A Primer on Sourcing and Procurement in an Integrated Supply Chain

The advent of technology solutions have made the communication & availability of data a key value addition to managing supply chains. The slew of application typically deployed across the supply chain involve DRP, MRP or ERP solutions. Recently organisations have found utility of connecting the "shop floor to the top floor" through the use of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). Tracking & Tracing of inventory has increased due to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). One the probable ways to improve strategy, planning & execution of good inventory management across the organisation can be through integrating these two pieces of independent technology solutions. MES integrated with RFID has shown sustainable benefits of improved visibility to inventory.  Hence the focus of  best in class supply chain adopting MRP & RFID due to various competitive reasons has shifted from "Why" to  implement to "How" to implement the integration solution...

A good video on Basics of Supply Chain Management

Executives on Supply Chain Flexibility... http://www.scdigest.com/ASSETS/FirstThoughts/10-10-15.php?cid=3821

A good case on Supply Chain Improvement initiatives http://www.scmr.com/view/driving_a_turnaround_in_tumultuous_times/finance

The evolution of management practices to bridge the gap between the customer expectations and the delivery capability of the organisation leads to discovery of ingenious  processes. We remember 1903 when Henry Ford bridged the gap between time & cost expectation vis-a-vis customization. Then the world got introduced to what is commonly understood as "Mass Production System". The basis of mass production was the complete & consistent interchangeability of parts & simplicity of attaching them to each other. These innovations made assembly line possible. A new revolution due to wide spread use of technology - both for suppliers as well as consumers - led to expectations of customization. The supplier community retained the lever of mass while discovering new practices for customization. Dell led the management practices for Mass Customization which laid down the processes for meeting the customer demand. The evolution in management practices to meet the customer d...

The reason why we need better Supply Chain Infrastructure http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/India-loses-65-bn-annually-due-to-poor-logistics-Report/articleshow/6475809.cms

Recently I was a speaker at a conference - "Vision - 2015 - Demand Driven Supply Chains". I deliberated upon the "Current Practices and Limitations of Supply Chain". Drawing from multiple perspectives encompassing People, Process and Technology aspects of Supply Chain I attempted to touch the breadth of the critical issues impairing the supply chain.  The presentation that i used is at this location:  http://www.slideshare.net/pinak_k/current-practices-amp-limitations-of-supply-chain-pinak

Organisations are systems. They take input from the external environment, process it and give back the output to the external environment. The subystems of the organisation play their role in the cycle. A subsystem has a role for itself and a contribution towards the overall system. The delicate balance of individual goals and the system goals is an area where many organisations fail. Failure lacks reasoning for many as the subsystems seems to deliver what is expected out of them. It is apparent that individual achievements don't necessarily lead to organisational achievements. Something some where seems to be wrong. Supply Chain is the central nervous system of an organisation. By the definition of being the central nervous sytstem it inherently has the accountability of the health of the system. A central nervous syetsm is still a 'subsystem' so is Supply Chain. In my understanding it is the role of the central nervous system to ensure the synchronization of the other s...

'Demand Planning' has been in vogue for a while . Simply put its ancipating the probability of occurance of an event called 'Sales' led by an action by an entity called 'Customer'. Sometimes 'Consumer'. Supply Chains have gotten themselves equipped with all possible ammunition to meet the 'demand' in the most efficient way. Processes have been laid down to forecast, parameters for identification of variations are more than what humanly is identifiable and demand planning process is an obession for most of the stake holders in the organisation. Network Analysis and Decisions have been the core of Supply Chain Design which dominantly exists for aligning and synchronising the supply side with demand (read: what the customer may need). Inventory policies are laid down with identification of safety stocks and reorder levels. In the supply chains which are mutli organisations and geographies, 'technology' becomes the back bone of the planning...

Organisations, as they grow, find business continuity to be a risk hence have a "Back Up Plan". Its also termed as 'Alternate Strategy', 'or may be 'Plan B'. It simply means that there always is a fall back option. I have been wondering if Supply Chains also need a 'Wake Up Plan'? As Supply Chains have become more complex, highly interdependent, synchronous and almost working towards no room for 'blinking your eye' the possbility of a small lapse somewhere in the long mutli- partner chain can have tremendous cascading effects reaching very high proportions. To avoid any member in the supply chain to create a lapse, i like to have what i term as a 'Wake Up Plan'. It's just a system which keeps the system error proof so that organisations continue to march on their journey of supply chain excellence. 'Wake Up Plan'! I like my newly coined term.

Organisations need to achieve excellence. Guess post the Tom Peter's book, In Search of Excellence, 25 years back, the term seems to have made organisations aspire for - Excellence. Supply Chain excellence is critical initiative for achieving organisational excellence. But what is excellence? It simply means the customers of my product or service choose me ahead of my competitors. Even when they have a choice. You don't follow benchmarks, you create one. ( http://ageofdiscontinuity.blogspot.com/2009/06/supply-chain-excellence-and-relevance.html ) For sometime excellence was equated to Quality. Quality in turn was meetings specs. So excellence = meeting specs. The imitation of specs made the parameter redundant. It was so easy to meet the desired specs that competitors sooner than later made the organisation loose the competitive advantage. The product or service was thus 'commoditized'. If you can't differentiate, you can't claim excellence. So the revolution...