People Persons

A few of us consultants were sitting around having coffee and discussing leadership and leaders that we known and worked with.  We discussed great leaders that we have known.  The great leaders were few and far between, they are gems indeed when you can find them.    After discussing great leadership, we then explored… oh how should we put it?   Ah yes… counterexamples.  It is sometimes more fun to talk about leaders who are awful.  These leadership train wrecks are full of colorful contradictions and amazing stories.  It is horrible being under their yoke but they make from great stories years later.

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The Right Data in the Right Place at the Right Time

On September 19, 2012, Mark Gavoor presented a webinar “The Right Data in the Right Place at the Right Time.” This webinar was sponsored by Northwest Analytical an industry leading provider of manufacturing intelligence and statistical process control software. Mark was invited to present by Jeff Cawley, VP of Industry Leadership. Mark and Jeff have known each other for years being introduced by their mutual friend Dr. John Surak. John invited both Jeff and Mark to co-author a paper with him and co-authored a paper together in the January 2008 issue of Food Quality.

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Right Shoring

A recent issue of American Shipper had the two word title: Right Shoring. These two words said it all. There was almost no need for the the subtitle "Global cost structures have manufacturers re-evaluating outsourcing phenomenon." It had to come. In the pendulum world of business fads and phenomenon, we could not Out-Source jobs fast enough in the earlier years of this century. It goes without saying that we did it with gusto and apparently to excess. We created that “giant sucking sound” that H. Ross Perot said during a presidential debate in 1992 and was summarily lampooned for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkgx1C_S6ls

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The People Part of S&OP: Part I

Lora Cecere is one smart supply chain expert. She began her career as a supply chain professional with the companies like Clorox and P&G. She worked at Manugistics developing supply chain software and then moved on to become a top notch supply chain analyst and thinker at the Gartner Group and AMR Research. Currently she is the CEO of a Supply Chain Insights and the author of the best supply blog there is: Supply Chain Shaman. (Don't get us wrong, we are proud of our blog but we Supply Chain Shaman is the standard against which we measure ourselves.)

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Supply Chain and Finance: Part III - Working with Finance

This posting is the third and concluding parts of Supply Chain and Finance. The first two parts were posted in December 2011.

Every company wants to, or should want to, control their inventory. Inventory is essential for smooth production and order fulfillment. Too little inventory or inventory in the wrong balance, will impact revenues. When out-of-stocks are the issue, everyone in all functions are suddenly inventory, planning, purchasing, and logistics experts. A lot of attention is given to this kind of “inventory problem.” The attention comes immediately upon customer service going south. Sales, Marketing, Finance, and General Management all want to help the Supply Chain fix the breakdown in the supply chain.

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