Particularly in the supply chain, good performance is above all the result of good processes, followed by committed teams…
To establish these processes and define a supply chain improvement path, you need a compass.
In my professional experience, I have been successively responsible for the supply chain of several companies. From the very first weeks of my arrival in a new company, I always carried out an analysis of the existing situation concerning a set of best practices and defined a supply chain roadmap with my teams to prioritize improvement efforts.
To do this, I used an existing repository, which I adapted in my way to simplify it, make it more accessible to field teams, and push certain topics that I felt were under-represented (did I ever tell you about my passion for pull flow?…).
It could go something like this:
Well, for this company, we can see right away that we’ve got opportunities – but we can also see right away that we’ll be able to make a lot of progress if we start by putting in place a few supply chain performance measures (measuring service level and inventory turns is a good start) – and raise our heads a little on the horizon with a minimum of S&OP.
Every six months we review where we are, and we’re all proud to see that the radial diagram stain is gradually spreading out.
The use of a repository for best practices will therefore have several benefits:
– By carrying out a self-assessment, a repository enables the seeds of good practice to be disseminated throughout the organization. Oh yes, that’s right, it would be better if we did it that way!
– The repository will help you choose your battles – you can’t do everything at once.
– The repository enables us to communicate to other company functions, not just the supply chain team: we’re there, we’re going there, we need you for this!
– The supply chain benchmark enables us to measure and reward progress – even if we’re not yet excellent, we’ve improved a lot in six months! That’s something to be proud of!
Which frame of reference to use?
Class A, SCOR, MMOG-LE, Gartner best practices, reference frameworks from various professional associations or consulting firms, there are many different supports, and it’s not necessarily easy to recognize them all.
Some of these repositories are very (too?) rich. Fortunately, today these repositories are digitized, but at one time I remember a well-known repository that fit into a few large binders… It was undoubtedly exhaustive, but when you’re a supply chain manager and you’ve got a few customer issues to deal with first, it’s a bit daunting…
So you’ll need to look for a practical medium that suits you.
In France, we are partners of the “Supply Chain +” professional association, which has worked with its members to develop a reference framework of this type, soon to be available in English too – and which incorporates several Demand Driven best practices – it could be a useful resource for your path to supply chain excellence:
Did I mention that Intuiflow facilitates the structuring of processes and the implementation of best practices? Book a demo today!
