APICS Column
Aligning Demand and Supply Management
Supply chain managers are increasingly being relied on to deliver greater returns to shareholders – and are also being held responsible for “supply chain glitches” that negatively impact a company’s stock value! The majority of supply chain glitches occur due […]
Leading Change in Supply Chain Management
Any company that has undertaken the mission of implementing an integrated supply chain management strategy knows that one of the greatest challenges it faces is the significant change in internal culture that is required to make the supply chain redesign […]
Lean Implementation Is Tough!
Lean Business Solutions publishes free e-newsletter discussing applications of lean thinking in the workplace. Recently a reader by the name of Marty Laurent who has a lot of experience in lean manufacturing related a process capability story from his manufacturing […]
Managing Maverick Spend at Deere and Delphi – An Interview with Jon Stegner
Many managers today are struggling with how to turn their procurement organization around and reduce their maverick spend (spending outside the procurement process); different approaches are being adopted. Jon Stegner, a senior purchasing executive at Delphi Corp., brings with him […]
The RFID Power Play
In June 2003, Wal-Mart gave the edict that its top 100 suppliers would need to tag pallets and cases with RFID chips by January 2005. The deadline is now 2006 and includes all suppliers, not just the top 100, but […]
Can You Trust the Trust in Supply Chain Relationships?
One of the most misunderstood and ripe areas for development in the area of supply chain relationships is in the area of trust. Trust (and its cousin, Collaboration) seems to be the single most discussed element in making supply chains […]
Managing Supply Chain Relationships
As we begin the new year, many companies are standing back and re-evaluating the health of their supply chains. In this column, we continue with the eight-part series on transforming supply chains into integrated value systems, based on a new […]
So You Want to Involve Suppliers in New Product Development?
Congratulations! You’ve reengineered your product development process and manufacturing’s inputs are finally integrated early enough to make a difference. Quality is up and products are launching faster. But that doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. Traps await. Here, briefly, are […]
Rebuilding Iraq – Challenges to the EPC Industry
Recently, Bechtel Corporation was awarded a major contract to repair roads, hospitals, schools, and other foundational elements in post-war Iraq. Although critics claimed that this award was based on “personal contacts with the Bush administration”, these critics also overlooked the […]
Ten Reasons Why You Can’t Automate Human Relationships – A Guide for Supply Chain Managers, Part 2
We continue the discussion in the previous column on SCM on why human relationships are so important to management supply chains. 6. Data Mean Different Things to Different People In the B2B era, software developers were selling the vision of […]