Factory Audits are often conducted by companies to confirm whether the supplier is delivering the supplied goods per agreed-upon terms and standards (e.g. quality, safety, ethical, environmental, etc.). This has become an important undertaking for companies to continually ensure that it consistently meets it’s quality and performance standards. In a time where there is global […]
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When Survival in the Midst of Chaos Calls for Supply Chain Sustainability
In the modern age, organizations are striving to form a sustainable Supply Chain system to cope with the challenges that are arising. Such issues include the emission of hazardous substances, excessive resource consumption, Supply Chain risks, and complex procedures. Through Strategic Planning, organizations around the globe are adopting strategies to become a sustainable organization. In […]
Continuous Improvement Initiatives: High ROI Delivery Through Guidelines Prescribed by Lean Experts
A recent report from AlixPartners posited a surprising finding in the field of Process Improvement Programs for manufacturers: Most companies engaged in Lean Management, Sigma Six, or another management philosophy are achieving a poor return on their investment, and appear to be only partially engaged in the process itself. Considering that the entire purpose of […]
The Rules of Competition Are Changing – Advantages of a Pan-Industrial Strategy
Digital Transformations has set forth a change in leadership thinking, which is now changing the rules of competition. For several decades, Corporate Strategy Development has been founded upon the notion of Strategic Focus. In fact, Michael Porter, known as the Father of Modern Strategy, wrote in 1980 that Strategy targets either Cost Leadership, Differentiation, or […]
Solving the “Great Divide” – 5 Step Approach For Successful Supply Demand Integration
The “Great Divide” as referred to by Peter Drucker is the perennial issue of disconnect between Demand and Supply side within organizations. Companies are trapped in a pattern of reacting to the whims of the marketplace without developing a proactively designed supply capacity. Curiously enough, such companies are often the victims of their own success […]
Manufacturing Reshoring: Have You Included These 6 Key Considerations in Your Strategy?
Kearney’s 7th Annual Reshoring Index revealed a dramatic reversal of a five year trend, as domestic US manufacturing in 2019 commanded a significantly greater share versus the 14 Asian low-cost countries (LCCs), with manufacturing imports from China registering a particularly sharp decline. In 2019, imports of manufactured goods from 14 Asian LCC offshore trading partners […]
Revisiting a Strategy Classic, the Value Disciplines Model – How Are You Creating Value?
Many Strategy frameworks are based on the premise: we can’t be everything to everyone. An organization that pursues too many strategies usually ends up stuck in the middle offering average products for average prices. Thus, much of strategic thinking is focused on prioritization of resources, so we can make the greatest, timeliest impact given our […]
What Should Constitute Your Supply Chain Information Disclosure Strategy?
Supply Chain Management is getting more and more complex. The pressure on the Supply Chain information to be made public is also increasing day by day. With the popularity and widespread use of social media, it has become more and more difficult for organizations to hide information pertaining to supply chain practices, employees’ treatment, suppliers’ […]
The 6 Pillars of Supply Chain Management (SCM) Thinking: A New and Revolutionary Way of Looking at Supply Chain Management
Supply chain thinking used to be limited to the managers of a few global companies—companies that were struggling to coordinate internal information and materials. This, however, led to an exciting boom in cross-business coordination based on Supply Chain Management concepts. Today, the field has broadened and shifted over time. Current supply chain trends—differentiation, outsourcing, compression, […]
Can Our Organization Really Leverage Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence AKA AI is here. All businesses are aware of AI and recognize the tremendous potential for AI. AI enables new approaches to existing business models, operations, and deployment of people. These changes can fundamentally alter the way our organization operates. However, if you’re not a high-tech company, are you really sophisticated enough to […]
Mastering Strategic Supply Chain Planning: The Pegasus of Strategy
Strategic Supply Chain Planning is the “Pegasus of Strategy.” It can soar, but it also needs to keep its feet on the ground. Companies with a global supply chain now need to introduce its strategic left hand to its operational right hand. To make planning more valuable, its strategic supply chain planning needs to combine […]
The Power of the 5 Cost Management Strategies in Reducing Costs
A commonly quoted statistic is that 80% to 95% of the cost of a product is determined by its design and is therefore set before the item enters manufacturing. This assumption suggests that the dominant focus of Cost Management should be during Product Development and not during Manufacturing. However, contrary to a widely held assumption, […]
