Supply chain management evolves to keep pace with changing world
Found this very interesting article based on research done as a joint effort between CAPS Research, A.T. Kearney and the Institute of Supply Management. The research poses the question “what will a typical supply management organization look like in 10 years?” and concludes that “it’s hard to say for sure, but it likely will be complex, high-tech, supplier network-driven, and spread out across the globe.”
This particularly caught my attention. The report identified four areas future supply managers will be expected to tackle:
1. Delivering more innovation from suppliers
2. Contributing more broadly to revenue generation
3. Anticipating and managing supply risk to ensure business continuity
4. Expanding the breadth and impact of cost management efforts
These are themes I’ve talked about frequently here. The trends are clear; increasing demand volatility, shortening product lifecycles and the increasing globalization of supply chains is creating an environment where collaborative response to unexpected events is required to compete and win.
