Process Improvement 101

If you want to stand out, don’t be different. Be outstanding. – Meredith West In my last article I wrote about tough lessons learned while attaining World Class S&OP (Sales and Operations) certification. The most comments I received pertained to “It’s the people and their decisions that will make a project hell” It’s beneficial if you go back and read the article before going on. How DO we take a politically saturated, finger...

I spoke at two major Logistics and Supply Chain Conferences about a major business transformation project I was involved in. It’s time to take a hard look at the successes, challenges and failures. The object of the project was to reach a World Class level for Sales and Operations in the company through the Oliver Wight method. According to Wikipedia S&OP planning was developed by Oliver Wight in the 1980’s. So they know their...

The best way to improve a supply chain is by attacking it from the top to bottom.  That means from the C-suite down. What many companies do is allow users to make suggestions from the bottom without a proper ROI performed (with clear time and cost savings) and whether their suggestions are in line with the company’s medium to long term strategies. You end up with dozens if not hundreds of request for changes usually addressing a...

Calculating Return on Investment or ROI prior or after your SAP projects can be a formidable task. Formidable because it’s not always clear on HOW SAP will drive down costs, increase sales, increase customer satisfaction or make a Supply Chain more efficient. Below is a check list to help estimate ROI on SAP projects. Will the implementation reduce head count or FTE (Full time employe)? When we implemented a SAP driven weighing system...

Gather the company business experts together to expose business and SAP priorities. Those priorities should be closely linked to what your customers want. Unlike Six Sigma projects, SAP tools can be a total game changer for certain areas of the company. Tools like electronic batch management or quality notifications can bring huge efficiencies if integrated well with your current SAP modules. Educating the user community prior...

My friends Keith and Sean from the company REVEAL recently shared an excellent meal with me in old Montreal. Keith and I were both featured speakers at the Logistics and Supply Chain Management conferences in sunny Orlando (2012) and Fabulous Las Vegas (2013). My speaking engagements were centered on Sales and Operations transformation as well as Supply Chain Optimization.  We also both share the same insights on business fundamentals...