John makes some excellent points in his recent paper “Four Steps to Take Now to Prepare for the Recovery”.  I thought I’d pass along some thoughts regarding the question “Are traditional approaches and tools failing you?” and how the current business climate might help your cause to take action.

I recall when I was a supply chain manager in Aerospace during a previous business cycle where it seemed we just finished a record quarter and the bottom fell out (this was prior to 9/11/2001).  We immediately went into several rounds of layoffs that spanned the next two or three quarters that left us with a fraction of our previous workforce.  Those were some of the most difficult times I can remember but the downturn eventually became a recovery and our new challenge was to ramp output back up to significant levels in a short period of time.

What made the challenge more intense was the fact that we had lost much of the talent that made us successful prior to the contraction of the business and we were not able to replace that talent at anywhere near the velocity with which we reduced it.  Not to mention that reducing the workforce is typically an action that leads the actual business downturn, whereas re-staffing tends to lag the recovery.  We were able to turn this apparent obstacle into a unique opportunity for us to initiate some process and systems changes that were previously off the table for consideration.  The fact was that it was easier to sell and push those changes through than it was to hire more people to run the business as we had before.  The new climate that emerged from the painful downsizing allowed us to make our case that the old approaches and tools to run and manage the operation had to be changed.  Identifying this opportunity and making our case was not easy but in the end, it allowed us to make quantum leaps in how we managed the business instead of incremental (and often limited) improvements that were the norm before the downturn.

Be on the lookout for these opportunities that can emerge from the current business climate – it might provide the leverage you need to help you effect changes to systems and processes that will define your success when the recovery occurs.

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Tags: Supply chain management
Posted in Best practices, Supply chain management
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