Five Biggest Misconceptions of Supply Chain Management
Colleagues and friends have asked me over the years for my biggest take-aways from over 25 years working in supply chain management and software implementation. So today, I’m introducing a series of posts exploring the five biggest misconceptions of Supply Chain Management.
When people first contact me for contract work, they ask me screening questions like, “How long have you worked in our specific business vertical?” or “What makes for a successful implementation in your opinion?” and “What is your biggest success in business process improvement?”
In the course of answering these questions, I’ll admit I ask some questions of my own in return:
- Do you think your company is too unique for introducing a new technologies or applying best practices?
- Do you think any supply chain process improvement would provide one-time savings or long-term savings?
- Do you think it’s possible to forecast your demand effectively?
- How do you capture the real costs of your inventory?
- How long do you think it will take to improve your supply chain?
I do this because ultimately, I want to help businesses improve in the ways that have the most impact on their bottom line. In the years I’ve worked with so many different businesses, I’ve discovered the five biggest misconceptions of supply chain management:
- Our company is too unique for introducing new technologies or applying best practices.
- Any supply chain process improvement or change in technology would be a one-time savings.
- It’s impossible to forecast our demand.
- We understand the real costs of our inventory.
- We can improve our supply chain in six months or less.
In my next post, I’ll talk about how any business can benefit from applying best practices, regardless of what that business entails. Changing this mindset from the start can help make the difference in accepting business process improvement successfully.
For insights on how one company is benefiting from an implementation of a business process change, read more about Jerry Leigh and how implementing Infor M3 Demand Planner provided a single, global view to accurately predict and shape customer demand. [Full disclosure: This is one of my implementations.] JP