Plan “B” for China

October 17, 2019

Let’s start with the realization that plan “A” to relocate operations to China had a major flaw. If you moved manufacturing to China, India or any other low- cost producing country with the intention of importing goods back to North America or Europe (half a world away), then your plan was unsound!

I was taught to do everything possible to reduce lead-times and increase inventory velocity! Why is this important? Longer lead-times increase inventory. More inventory equates to less profits. Why? Because inventory delays fixing problems. When I see corporations chasing the labor “ghost”, I cringe! Labor typically accounts for 8-12% of the total cost of ownership. But too many leaders only have one play in their play book: to reduce labor costs by moving head count to low cost countries! They are missing 90% of the total cost of ownership!

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Categories: Supply Chain Entropy Busters®

The Rule of 1% = 50%

September 9, 2019

rticle after article has been written about the advantages of complexity reduction and what should be done. However, too often there is little focus on the root cause of entropy creeping into the enterprise. A recent Forbes article outlines the seven steps to reduce complexity. Each step mentioned addresses the symptoms of the illness and not the disease. We are not doing a good enough job of asking, “Do we really need so many exceptions?” or “That’s a really stupid rule”. Rather, we need to be asking, “What’s driving and creating such complexity?”

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Categories: Supply Chain Entropy Busters®

Cheap is Cheap – Buyer Beware!

July 8, 2019

A quick way of adding Entropy into your organization is via purchasing.

If you’re always buying from the lowest price vendor, you’re running a purchasing department.

If you’re working to understand the TOTAL cost of ownership and rewarding suppliers that support; excellent customer service, flexibility delivery, outstanding quality and jointly deliver ongoing cost reductions, you have a world class procurement function that builds supplier partnerships.

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Categories: Supply Chain Entropy Busters®