Are you getting the most value you can from your outsourced manufacturing partners?
Do you have critical projects that keep getting delayed by more urgent needs?
When was the last time you stepped back and took a fresh look at your end-to-end supply chain strategy?
Ed brings 35+ years of cross-functional business experience to help you improve your business performance. He can augment your efforts when your business team is overloaded, help you coach and develop junior staff, and bring a fresh perspective to problems you have been wrestling with.
Some areas where Ed can assist are described below.
Surprisingly, many executive teams don't have a good idea what their end-to-end supply chain (from their suppliers' suppliers to their customers' customers) looks like. Developing this baseline understanding is a critical first step in any supply chain improvement activity. This analysis can begin at a high-level to get started, but over time, developing a detailed current state analysis is a wise investment.
You can' t outsource strategy development. Your supply chain strategy needs to be developed and owned by your executive team and aligned with your overall business strategy. Many executive teams find a coach/facilitator can help them work through this process more efficiently and effectively.
The coach/facilitator can lead the executive team through a structured process and prepare the materials the executive team needs to make informed tradeoff decisions. Your coach/facilitator must be able to speak to the various functions within your business (finance, marketing, sales, design, operations and information technology) in their own language, to help gain cross-functional alignment and support for your strategy.
Once your strategy is defined, you need to identify performance gaps, develop improvement projects, set improvement priorities and allocate resources to drive implementation. A coach/facilitator can help you work through a structured process to drive and monitor implementation.
Changing tariffs are causing many Brands and OEMs to rethink their supply chain network. Increasing Asian labor rates are making Mexican and Eastern European manufacturing competitive. A quantitative analysis of various network scenarios can help you understand the tradeoffs between cost, customer service, agility and inventory, enabling you to select the network design that best supports your business strategy.
Most companies select an outsource manufacturing partner though an RFP process, selecting the partner that offers the lowest price. While price is important, there are many other important aspects of the partner relationship that too often get lost during an RFP process. Often times, the RFP does not include all the data the prospective partner needs to develop the best possible proposal. A co-creative, collaborative approach, with a focus on building a long-term relationship, will usually lead to a better business value.
When the incentives between a business and their suppliers are not aligned, unnecessary friction occurs in the relationship and collaboration is difficult. Mathematical models can guide the contract development to ensure both parties earn the most profit when they jointly optimize the supply chain.
S&OP is the heart of supply chain management. However, to be effective, it needs to be focused on the key economic decisions driving your business performance. Just following a standard textbook process is unlikely to yield the desired results. You need to tailor the process to meet your unique needs.
Too often businesses focus their improvement priorities solely on cost or inventory reduction. This can lead to reduced customer service, decreased customer satisfaction and reduced revenue. The executive team needs to take balanced approach to driving supply chain improvements to keep their supply chain priorities aligned with their business strategy. Implementing a balanced scorecard can help the executive team maintain the proper balance.
Consumer and regulatory forces are increasing the pressure for end-to-end supply chain transparency. Many companies are building supply chain control towers and utilizing more sophisticated analytic tools to monitor and manage their end-to-end supply chains. To get the most value from these investments they should be tied to your supply chain strategy and balanced scorecard. You may also find the control tower metaphor is too restrictive and you should view your efforts from the broader perspective of an air traffic control system.
Value stream mapping and business process mapping are critical tools for driving supply chain improvements. Having a detailed understanding of your current business processes can also reduce the time and cost of system implementations. An outside facilitator, who is familiar with the APICS Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model, can accelerate your process mapping efforts, reduces the time and cost of system implementations and lead to better business outcomes.
Most companies are struggling to find good supply chain talent. One of the best ways to attract and retain good talent is to provide training and coaching to help them grow their skills. Improving your team's skills can also pay great dividends for your business. Remember, your planner's decisions directly impact your business's checkbook.
Sometimes you need a fresh face to drive a significant transformation or need an interim manager while you search for a permanent leader.
Information technology is at an inflection point. Moore's law is running into limitations. Deep learning is driving the develop of new chip architectures. 5G networks are starting to be deployed. Self-driving cars are coming closer to reality. These new technologies will have a direct impact on the way we manage supply chains over the next 5-10 years. Organizations that have good, clean data and processes will be positioned to take advantage of these developments.