14 Questions to Assess your Supply Chain Capability

Do you know your organization’s supply chain capability? Even if it is performing well today, if the demand were to increase substantially, are you ready? If your supply chain is currently not performing well, or if you are expecting growth, it is time to perform a capability assessment.

I have developed a capability model that describes the characteristics associated with different levels of supply chain capability. Below are the characteristics that describe a supply chain at the lowest capability level. If it sounds like they sound like they are describing your organization, then you probably already know that you are facing supply risk, and it is time to act.

How accurately does each statement describe your supply chain?

1. Results are falling short of expectations.

2. Processes are unreliable, which causes lots of expediting, firefighting, and heroics.

3. Too many metrics, that are ill-defined, with minimal ownership or accountability.

4. Management creates an unhealthy environment due to an over emphasis on results and meeting targets, so there is lots of finger-pointing, gaming of the metrics and minimal collaboration.

5. Data is unreliable and requires much cleansing before it is usable, which leaves little time for analysis and understanding the root cause of performance issues.

6. Top management and employees are generally unaware of operational excellence and supply chain best practices.

7. Top management do not understand the importance of the role that sponsors play in the success of projects, so benefits are seldom realized.

8. ERP system is more focused on finance than supply chain, and there are disparate systems of record (SOR).

9. Planning is typically done in MS Excel.

10. Minimal integration with supply chain partners.

11. Lead times are long and variable.

12. Forecasts are inaccurate.

13. Batch sizes are large and set up time is high.

14. Low inventory turns and unsatisfactory on-time delivery.

If these statements generally describe your supply chain, then the next step is to create a list of the statements that accurately describes your organization. Then your team should develop solutions that would best address the gaps. These solutions should then be prioritized to begin your supply chain transformation.

If you are interested to hear more about my capability model, please contact me.

It includes detailed characteristics across multiple domains including people development, business processes, data quality, metrics, technology and lean. Each domain has six capability levels, from under-performing to sustained excellence.

How often have you worked at an organization that has great people but poorly designed business processes? Maybe they have been highly focused on developing their supply chain technology but forgot to develop their business processes first. Alternatively, they asked consultants to help them redesign their business processes, but they are not performing as expected, because their people have not been developed.

A capability model will give direction to your efforts to reach that next level quickly and effectively.

To learn more about BioSupply, please visit their website https://biosupplyconsulting.com/