For over 20 years software companies have developed sophisticated technology tools to improve the coordination and control of material moving through the supply chain. Companies have purchased an enormous amount of technology promising end-to-end supply chain visibility; however, there remain a significant number of weak or broken links in most supply chains where shipments simply drop out of sight for considerable amounts of time. Most often organizations either ignore or deny the existence of these information gaps, however, inevitably these weak supply chain links results in excess inventory or poor customer service.
Over the past two decades North American companies have significantly increased their outsourced manufacturing to Chinese vendors. This trend has amplified the number of partners in the supply chain, the interdependencies of subcontractors and raw material suppliers, and the distance that material and information must travel to close this gap. This trend has significantly increased the complexity and importance of accurately controlling supply chain signals.
The information gaps in the form of weak supply chain links are most often found at the outer edges of the supply chain. Any time that raw materials, production parts or finished goods change hands is a potential for communication breakdown which have traditionally been addressed through expensive internal enterprise resource planning system (ERP) rather than addressing them through collaboration with their trading partners. Of course, physical goods are not the only thing getting temporarily lost in the supply chain; financial flows and critical supply-chain data also contribute to organizations inability to manage their inventories.
Organizations need an information system that links disparate applications across multiple partners, languages, geographies and cultures. The emergence of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model in the form of project management and collaboration tools is a positive step in the right direction because it gives everyone in the supply chain an opportunity to identify these weak links and take action to mitigate their impact. However, today there is a plethora of these tools all with different capabilities and degrees of difficulty, complexity, and cost in terms of implementation.
If you or your organization would like some help identifying weak links in your supply chain and identifying the appropriate collaboration tools necessary to fill those gaps contact a Supply Chain Expert, their motto is “you are only as good as your weakest link”. They can help you design a program that delivers both immediate and long term benefits to your organization. The program will be designed to shift your organizations thinking, improve innovation, and implement a program that will optimize operational performance and satisfy the requirements of your customers.
Dr. Edward F. Knab
Productivity Constructs, Inc.
800 660 8718 office
949 413 7333 mobile
ed@edwardknab.com
www.productivityconstructs.com
Free Supply Chain Intelligence Reports
Dr. Knab is an academic practitioner and seasoned supply chain expert whose company, Productivity Constructs, Inc., is focused improving global leadership and thereby creating more effective organizations and higher levels of supply chain efficiency. Dr. Knab can be contacted for speaking engagements, coaching, or consultation at ed@productivityconstructs.com, mailto:ed@ewardknab.com or www.edwardknab.com
