How to build a flexible supply chain network
There’s a new article over at Supply Chain Digest called “How to build a flexible supply chain network” that has some good insights on building supply chain agility.
The article tends to focus on the macro view - over the long-term. The customers we deal with do, in fact, practice much of what is discussed here. The other thing they do, though, is to also attack the micro view. That is, what about day-to-day supply chain agility and the ability to sense and respond to daily changes in demand, supply, capacity or product.
Our customers find that constant volatility requires their organization to adopt these practices. They also find that optimization technologies were designed with the macro view in mind. That is, they operate on timelines more consistent with the longer-term. They take a lot of time to setup to do a simulation, require highly trained people to manage and take a very long time to run. Thus, they aren’t suited to the day-to-day responsiveness that they need.
The reality is that day-to-day response is a function of tradeoffs and compromises, and people need to be involved to make these decisions. Optimization technologies don’t support this, but Response Management does.
Just one more tool in your belt that can dramaticallly increase the flexibility of your supply chain network.
