SupplyChainDigest featured a dialog with various industry experts (here) on their thoughts on supply chain trends in 2008. A couple of interesting comments that caught my eye:

Gartner’s Dwight Klappich says conditions may force companies back to basics in 2008.

“Supply chain management organizations will be forced to divert their attention away from strategic initiatives like innovation; instead they will have to focus more time and effort on tactical and operational issues driven by economic and competitive pressures”.

Dr. Larry Lapide of MIT agrees – and says this may mean a reversal of some current trends.

“With oil and logistics costs over the past few years, we’ll see more effort in trying to keep these costs down. Many companies will ’slow down’ their supply chains by using less expensive and slower transport modes,” Lapide said. “This will, of course, mean that inventories will increase - especially in-transit and at just-in-time sites.”

He also thinks there may be some return to in-house manufacturing over both quality issues and the need to be more reactive to demand without inventory build-ups.

I’m seeing a shift as well, one to more an emphasis on operational challenges. As the economy slows, most companies will focus more tactically at how they can execute better. How do we execute to the plans we have in place? This is a significant challenge given the volatility and cost challenges that manufacturers face today. Companies need to figure out how to leverage their assets more effectively and people are one of their most valued assets. Empowering people to respond more effectively to change is a key to gaining leverage and driving breakthroughs in operations performance.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 3:46 pm and is filed under General News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.