The Unexpected Beneficiary of President Trump’s Tariffs
As the saga with the US tariffs on Chinese goods is playing out in the public arena, there is a lot of speculation about who the ultimate losers and winners in this game will be. There is Plenty of Shallow Analysis Most journalists do not have time to think it through deeply, and most serious […]
What Is The Easiest Way To Cut Warehousing Logistics Cost To Minimum?
Very few companies seem to have enough warehousing space. Almost 80% of the companies I have interacted with as part of my projects (and that number runs in thousands, when you count the suppliers, customers and other supply chain partners of clients and customers) have sometime or other complained about running out of warehousing space. […]
If You Mistake Someone’s Technology for Their Competence, Then Who is Incompetent?
Impressive things are difficult to forget. And, sometimes difficult to describe in a manner which does full justice to their impressiveness. Let me make an attempt using what sticks in the memory after the last decade or so. We were at a presentation by a fairly large logistics company who were incumbents at a client […]
Why Logistics Companies Get Away With Extra-ordinary Practices and Pricing?
No other industry, barring IT, treats its buyers with as much disdain and contempt at the logistics industry. To make it palatable they mix just the right amount of respectful words in between. If you are not exposed to the world I am talking about, I am sure you would find this hard to believe, […]
How Far Would You Go To Secure Continuity of Supply?
It is a legitimate question on supply chain security – How important is continuity of supply to you? How far would you go? Would you commission an act of aggression, if that was the only way of assuring supply chain security to keep the supply lines open? Would you go further than an act of […]
Can Suppliers Kill You By Their Inaction?
Let me tell a story. This is a very entertaining story, but that is not the reason I am telling it. It has even greater business value, especially for strategists, and senior executives. It shows how supply chain security irrevocably altered the fortunes of a company that was a global leader at one time in […]
What is the Most Effective Strategy to Massively Slash Shipping Freight Costs?
Freight costs reduction is almost always the last frontier in the cost reduction landscape. At the board level, most companies do not pay much attention to their external freight costs. These costs never get the attention they deserve because they are scattered all over the place, and generally out of sight. What if I told […]
“The Start-ups’ Struggle” With Supply Chain – What is the Answer?
It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them. Steve Jobs (1955 – 2011), Business Week, May 25 1998 In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But […]
Unique Supply Chain Challenges of Oil & Gas Industry
One of the common problems cited by the boards and senior management is that the consultants they hire do not understand their unique challenges. This applies even more to large cookie cutter approach based consulting houses with thousands of consultants where the guys who have the knowledge are too senior to focus on a couple of clients, and the guys who have the time have little knowledge, or experience.
What We Can Learn About Supply Chain Security From One of the Shrewdest Pivots In Business History
Two stalwarts in the mobile phone industry in March 2000 were equally impacted by the same event – a lightning fire in the chip manufacturing plant of their common supplier, Philips, in New Mexico.