Signature on the Front of the Check

We heard an interesting story of a small business. The charismatic owner of a company wanted to launch a new product based on his own idea. When the product was ready to go, the owner presented to the sales staff. The presentation included the benefits of the product and instructions on how the product should be pitched to customers. At the end, the owner asked the sales team if they had any questions and what they thought of the new product. One younger salesperson raised his hand asked a few pointed questions to get more clarification on the market that this new product was intended for. Not particularly satisfied with the owners answers and viability of the new product, the young salesperson then asked, "Maybe next time you might consider asking the sales team what they thing the market needs are."

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Nine Excess Inventory Management Mistakes

There is an article worth reading in the August 2013 issue of CFO. The article by Gary C. Smith is titled: Nine Inventory Management Mistakes — and One Easy Solution. The Nine Mistakes listed by the author are as follows:

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10PL Logistics?

There is a discussion on the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Group on LinkedIn. The concept of a 10PL was raised and asked folks what they thought about this concept. There was not much given except for one power point slide that gives a one line definition of each nPL from 1 to 10.

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Obesity and Warehouse Productivity

There is an interesting article in Material Handling and Logistics on June 28, 2013: How to Compensate for Obesity’s Impact on Productivity. The article is worth reading if you manage a warehouse, factory, or other location where the demands on workers are more physical.

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Small Company Supply Chain Challenges

Smaller companies face the same issues as bigger companies. This applies probably as much or more to the supply chain as any otter function. They have to process orders, ensure quality, solve problems, expedite inbounds and outbounds, and this must all be done at the least possible cost. We have written about the multi-criteria optimization problem that is the Supply Chain. The complexity and trade-offs apply to both $50 billion multi-national corporations and $5 million companies with one office, plant, and warehouse location.

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