Читать книгу Supply Chain Management Best Practices - David Blanchard - Страница 18

 Best-in-class supply chains share many common characteristics, no matter what industry they're in.

 It takes a coordinated team effort to build, maintain, and sustain a well-run supply chain.

 Best practices don't just happen—somebody has to champion them, devise them, and then apply them.

Supply chains are defined as much by their similarities as by their differences. While there may not appear to be much in common between, say, a multibillion-dollar big-box retailer and a single-site mom-and-pop shop, in fact both companies operate on the same principle: When you're out of stock, you're out of business. With out-of-stock rates averaging 10% (in some product categories, it can be considerably higher), having products on the shelves is the be-all and end-all of retail life. So retailers of all shapes and sizes—whether they're mass discounters the size of a small country like Walmart or a modest chain of three comic book stores—are naturally inclined toward adopting best practices that will maximize their revenues (e.g., rapid replenishment) while minimizing their costs (e.g., demand planning).

The story is much the same for manufacturers, distributors, nonprofits, service industries—in short, any organization that makes or moves products, whether physical or digital, has common supply chain challenges. According to Jim Tompkins, chairman of supply chain consulting firm Tompkins International, top-performing supply chains share the following seven characteristics:

1 They have a clear supply chain strategy as their foundation. This strategy is based on a deep understanding of the company's business strategy.

2 They are adaptable and quick, which allows them to compete in today's dynamic environment.

3 They are transparent, have clearly stated performance expectations, and have a culture of accountability to their customers.

4 They are focused on continuous improvement throughout the supply chain, and aim at peak-to-peak performance.

5 They know their strengths and their weaknesses, and participate in benchmarking activities.

6 They have an end-to-end perspective, focusing on the supply chain activities of plan-buy-make-move-store-sell (Tompkins' tweak of the SCOR model's basic definition of the supply chain as plan-source-make-deliver-return-enable).

7 They have a global, rather than regional, focus.¹

In short, the best-run organizations have developed world-class supply chains that extend from their customers' customers to their suppliers' suppliers, and all points in between. As this chapter illustrates, many of the best practices of one industry can be tweaked so that they'll work for another industry as well.

Best practices tell only part of the story, though. For one thing, best practices are not etched in stone. Thanks to advances in technology and changes in customer expectations, what might have been considered best-in-class not that long ago (for instance, next-day delivery) is now considered as a standard option for delivering products to customers, and if 3D printing technology continues to evolve, instant (or almost instant) delivery could become not only achievable but routine. The best practices in this chapter, then, are meant to provide a flavor for what companies have done and are doing to expand the possibilities of supply chain management, but they're certainly not meant to be the last word.

What's undeniable is that behind every successful supply chain organization is a team of dedicated and influential change agents. Or, to put it more simply, a supply chain wins or loses based on the quality of the people who manage it. With that in mind, let's look at some of the most innovative efforts at supply chain management in several industries and at some of the people who have spearheaded their companies' best practices efforts.