Supply Chain Driven Business Transformation

ABC SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSFORMATION
All successful Supply Chain Transformations have three things in elements – Alignment, Balance and Continual Improvement.

All successful Supply Chain Transformation have three things in elements – Alignment,
Balance and Continual Improvement. Case study, after case study, has revealed that companies ignore these cardinal rules to their peril.
Supply Chain Transformations are again in fashion. In the late 90s, they were being driven
by aggressive supply chain systems vendors; now they are driven by simplistic academic theorists. Both groups have little if any, real-life experience in supply chain management.
Leading Supply Chain Management academics today contend that every supply chain in the world should be the same -Agile, Adaptable, and Aligned. We believe this is arrogant. It is like saying every woman in the world should wear a size 7 dress – it sounds sexy but is impractical.

ABC in Supply Chain Transformation
Despite huge advances in supply chain decision support tools, the dream of mass customization is still out of our grasp today. Consequently, efficiency and agility remain diametrically opposite poles on the same continuum. However, that does not mean that every organization, no matter what industry or strategy, should congregate to the holy grail of agility. In fact, on the other end of the continuum, there is a substantial concentration
of industrial investment, where the business imperative is to drive the last fraction of cent out of
costs. A supertanker of 350,000 Metric Tonnes, when fully loaded, does not leave much room for agility; and a large amount of today’s crude oil is still being carried by such tankers…