Jul 18, 2010 | Demand chains, OE, Operations
Two differing approaches to management improvement you may think?
Not so.
Both require extensive:
* Collaboration,
* Transparency,
* Robust processes,
* A set of values imbued through an individual organisation, and group of organisations in a demand chain,
* Respect for the capability of operator level employees to make contributions to improvement, innovation, and a,
* Safe, sustainable and productive workplace.
So how can they be so misunderstood by so many supposedly informed and perceptive commentators?
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article that stated in part “Companies like Apple and Nissan are seeing the drawbacks of lean manufacturing methods, which call for carrying little inventory but make supply snags tougher to offset”.
This statement, a highlight of the article, demonstrates profound lack of understanding of lean manufacturing and the role that customer demand plays in creating a “demand chain” that works to satisfy that demand by removing waste of all types, something most sensible customers would baulk at paying for if they knew, and had the choice.
The businesses cited, several to my surprise, have clearly not absorbed the huge difference between responding to a forecast, and gearing their operations to respond to the drivers of demand with continuously improving capability, innovative solutions to problems, and a vision that engages for the long term, rather than focussing on the latest periods financials.
May 12, 2010 | Alliance management, Demand chains, Leadership, Operations
Successful groups have great power, power to identify, understand the causes and implications of problems and opportunities, and come up with creative responses, and once moving can gather great momentum. Most workplaces are now actively seeking to harness the intellect and creative power of their employees and other stakeholders, and those that do it well create great opportunity.
The flip side is that groups also have inertia, they are much harder to get rolling than just an individual, and once rolling, have a tendency to take unpredictable excursions.
It is easy to underestimate the effort, leadership, and capacity to connect that is required to overcome this inertia, and to manage the momentum constructively, leading a group in a consistent direction, focusing on the important issues, and consistently delivering outcomes.
I bet Isaac never thought of this application of his laws.
May 11, 2010 | Alliance management, Demand chains, Leadership
When people are tied together, when they are in “communities” they tend to develop shared values, aspirations, and courses of action. The incidence of double dealing, dishonesty, personal gain at the expense of the community gain, are reduced.
An efficient demand chain is just another type of community, it benefits from the collaboration, is able to identify and filter out self interest and hubris, and can deliver value to all participants.
The oxygen of such a community is information, both the quantitative data that can be collected and shared, but perhaps more importantly, the qualitative stuff that accrues with use, personal relationships, shared obligations, the mutual understanding of peoples idiosyncrasies, and simply the need to be recognised.
Apr 29, 2010 | Alliance management, Communication, Demand chains, Social Media, Strategy
Democratising knowledge, isn’t this a lovely term! I have heard it used on a number of occasions recently, and it came up again in an extraordinary TED presentation by Stephen Wolfram .
In just two words it nails the complex changes happening in numerous ways in our lives. Knowledge used to be power, now it is freely available, it is simply a tool, and the ones who use it best will win, rather than in the past, where the holder of the knowledge had a huge advantage.
Amongst all the other things that have changed, is the potential to turn simple supply chains that pump product into a channel driven only by capacity, into demand chains that respond backwards to demand signals from the customer.
This opportunity for change driven by a combination of the communication tools on the net, and the ability to assemble and analyse the drivers of demand in your particular market offers huge potential for innovation, efficiency, and differentiation based on the capabilities of those in the chain.
Apr 22, 2010 | Demand chains, Leadership
Isn’t it interesting, when we pay for something, we have an expectation of what that transaction will deliver to us, but there is little sense of lingering obligation.
However, if we just do something for someone, any small piece of kindness or consideration, it creates a bond, and often a feeling of obligation that the kindness requires some reciprocal consideration on the part of the receiver.
This reciprocal obligation dynamic exists in the best demand chains, smoothing the path through the chain of whatever product or service the chain is set up to provide.
Any chain is a set of transactions, but the dynamics of a transaction are nowhere near as important to the individuals performing the transactions as the overall performance of the chain, and so they use initiative, alter the status quo, innovate, and generally go that bit extra, recognizing implicitly the value of the action to the performance of the chain, and it is their contribution to the performance of the chain that is the motivation, just completing the not the immediate transaction.
Apr 21, 2010 | Customers, Demand chains, Leadership
Integrated value chains are nothing new. IBM had one before it started “outsourcing” what turned out to be the future to Microsoft and Intel, Ford had one at centered around the Dearborn factory, from where the company controlled by owning everything from growing the cattle to supply the leather for the T model seats, to the end of the production line, and beyond, and even the Venetian shipyards way back in the 1400’s was an integrated chain.
What has changed are the tools by which we can manage integrated value chains, and the recognition that they do not necessarily need to be controlled by equity, the power of the customer is far more potent.
