GOODQUESTION Readers Weigh In
☒ TECHNOLOGY WILL FIX EVERYTHING. Technology is not a panacea. Enterprise resource planning systems are coming into their third decade now, and we still see the same data-quality issues crop up. Investing What’s One Supply Chain Misconception That Needs to Be Cleared Up Now? Myth: Cost Reduction Reigns
in our people and processes is the most efficient and effective way to build resilient supply chains—ones that can utilize everything the artificial intelligence revolution has to offer.
The supply chain should reduce cost. It can, but more importantly the supply chain should help reduce time—the amount of time that anything in stock is ordered, pulled from inventory, and delivered to the end consumer.
–Steven Hyman COO, Global Messenger and Logistics
–Jessica Windham CEO, Solving Work
The most important supply chain metric is cost savings. Many supply chain professionals believe doing more with less and finding “leverage” is the key to success. Operating efficiently, not the cheapest, is paramount to delivering value in the form of responsiveness, sustainability, and innovation. You cannot thrive internally and expect your customers to feel the value. –Mark McEntire CEO, Princeton TMX
☒ THE SUPPLY CHAIN SECTOR WILL CONTINUE TO BE MALE DOMINATED. More women are entering the supply chain workforce than ever before. Our 2023 Voice of the American Workforce survey shows 42% of supply chain respondents are female, and Gartner’s Women in the Supply Chain data finds 25% of supply chain C-suite roles are now filled by women— statistics not seen a decade ago. –Kim Vindrine Sales Excellence Manager Employbridge
☒ TEMPERATURE- CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENTS ARE ONLY SUITED to protect from heat or freezing. There is additional value; they reduce humidity while food products are stored or handled. Humidity can impact food quality and the shipping and inner carton stability. –Frank Hurst Executive Vice President – LTL Echo Global Logistics ☒ TRANSPORTATION CAUSES MAJOR DELAYS (i.e. OTIF penalties) in manufacturing. This is overblown. More than 80% of the time, the reason something is late to a customer destination is because it didn’t leave the source distribution site on time. –Keith Moore CEO, AutoScheduler.AI
☒ NEGOTIATIONS ARE A ZERO SUM GAME. Conversations with suppliers, partners, and even competitors should center around opportunities for shared value creation, instead of an ultimately shortsighted “I win, you lose” approach. As Simon Sinek says, it’s an infinite game. Adopting binary mindsets will ultimately leave us shorthanded. –Jason Hehman Vertical Lead for Industry 4.0, TXI ☒ SUPPLY CHAINS ARE LINEAR. Supply chains are nonlinear fluid processes that operate continuously. They are dynamic and consist of multiple chains that comprise a supply chain ecosystem. They are interconnected and living processes that do not start and end.
☒ SUPPLY CHAINS ARE NECESSARILY BECOMING MORE RESILIENT by shifting production out of China toward
countries that have better relations with the United States and its allies. Shipping lanes between China and the U.S. West Coast are comparatively secure when compared to routes that require ships to pass through the Suez or Panama Canals regardless of the disposition of the country of origin. –Robert Reavis Vice President, ButcherJoseph & Co.
6 Inbound Logistics • March 2024
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