Converting a traffic control tower concept into a warroom solution in essence means 7 new differentiators can be offered to the customer on top of the already provided operational excellence:
1. Ontime tracking for all flows with delay and root cause analysis
2. e2e Logistics Cost reporting with drilldown
3. e2e Leadtime Variance Analysis
4. e2e Inventory Visibility
5. e2e Load Unit and flow efficiency Simulations
6. e2e trace-ability of products
7. e2e Mileage and CO2 calculation models
A simple dashboard can standardize this service offering across your customer-base and providing a plug-and play architecture to install one of these 7 services with high ROI but low entry cost make this offering a decisive advantage in the competition for logistics services.
According to an article published in Harvard Busines Review, by Frederick F. Reichheld, The One Number you Need to Grow your company in difficult times is the Net Promoter score. It is the ratio of promotors to detractors. Companies with a loyal customer base have net-promotor scores from 70 to 80 percent.
An offer like the one above would definitely contribute to the score for a logistics service provider...
mercredi 28 octobre 2009
mardi 27 octobre 2009
Value-Based Management
One key take-away for me is that successful business change is about one of 5 following elements or a combination of these:
1. Plans based on understanding of the external environment
Without a thorough understanding of the customer needs and drivers to buy the goods or services and how change will impact the market an initiative cannot be sustainable
2. People and organization
Objectives and relations need to be alligned based on shared values
3. Optimized Processes
Processes often need to be redesigned to meet needs of the customers or suppliers or changes to inputs or outputs
4. Systems and tools
Without the right tools and systems optimized processes cannot be reproduced easily and efficiently
5. KPI tracking
Reports to check actuals against plan allow the organization to stay disciplined and keep the learning going
1. Plans based on understanding of the external environment
Without a thorough understanding of the customer needs and drivers to buy the goods or services and how change will impact the market an initiative cannot be sustainable
2. People and organization
Objectives and relations need to be alligned based on shared values
3. Optimized Processes
Processes often need to be redesigned to meet needs of the customers or suppliers or changes to inputs or outputs
4. Systems and tools
Without the right tools and systems optimized processes cannot be reproduced easily and efficiently
5. KPI tracking
Reports to check actuals against plan allow the organization to stay disciplined and keep the learning going
dimanche 20 septembre 2009
Point-Of-Sales Data - Prerequisite for SC design?
If the objective of a Supply Chain redesign is to refocus all involved parties to enhance the end customer experience, then the major source of information could well be point-of-sales data.
The customer behaviour determines the key performance objectives a supply chain needs to meet in terms of:
1. Cost
2. Reliability
3. Speed
4. Quality
5. Flexibility
Unfortunately talking to sales and marketing will only give a list of prioritized objectives and in the best cases a gap compared to the competition.
It is the data which will show what customers buy and which customers change their buyng behaviour based on price and the various levels of service that are offered.
The customer behaviour determines the key performance objectives a supply chain needs to meet in terms of:
1. Cost
2. Reliability
3. Speed
4. Quality
5. Flexibility
Unfortunately talking to sales and marketing will only give a list of prioritized objectives and in the best cases a gap compared to the competition.
It is the data which will show what customers buy and which customers change their buyng behaviour based on price and the various levels of service that are offered.
vendredi 18 septembre 2009
The solution for LSPs is Business Intelligence
As Logistics Service Providers by definition provide Logistics Support to their customers, one only has to go back in history to see how the army developed the logistics function from the transportation and storage of critical supplies to the collection of mission critical warfare information.
The Romans started the process. Napoleon followed the approach and military intelligence is now the most visible part of American warfare.
From satellites to unmanned planes to control centers. All are organized to provide the commanders in chief with mission-critical information.
This new need creates new requirements in terms of assets. Best of breed information technology and data exchange protocols now drive the outcomes of the wars and this trend will beome more and more visible.
To provide business intelligence LSPs will need to be able to create long-term linkages with their customers, capture and organize critical information in a way the customer is getting value from this work.
Process excellence, continuously improving the working together is creating the necessary condition for long-term operational relations. Via project and IS mastery the LSP can then leverage these shared processes to provide the customer with value-critical information.
More details in a next section.
The Romans started the process. Napoleon followed the approach and military intelligence is now the most visible part of American warfare.
From satellites to unmanned planes to control centers. All are organized to provide the commanders in chief with mission-critical information.
This new need creates new requirements in terms of assets. Best of breed information technology and data exchange protocols now drive the outcomes of the wars and this trend will beome more and more visible.
To provide business intelligence LSPs will need to be able to create long-term linkages with their customers, capture and organize critical information in a way the customer is getting value from this work.
Process excellence, continuously improving the working together is creating the necessary condition for long-term operational relations. Via project and IS mastery the LSP can then leverage these shared processes to provide the customer with value-critical information.
More details in a next section.
Why LSPs need to re-invent their profession
Today transport is a commodity. So is warehousing. Both services can be started up from scratch on an asset-free basis leasing assets for the transport and warehouse on demand. Large multis have established themselves to partner and serve customers and their efficiency in this low margin business is extreme. The cut-throat competition is comparable to the ones airlines face globally.
To compete in such a marketplace, the only differetiatior is how the LSPs service their customers, how they leverage information to continuously improve their relationships with their customer and become strategic partners.
But even these approaches do not provide a winning business model for the likes of DHL, K&N or Agility. The problem here is that business success depends from the critical assets a company owns in the supply chain. And the reality is that LSPs do not own any critical assets. Most of them are perfectly interchangeable.
That is why the LSPs need to re-invent themselves.
To compete in such a marketplace, the only differetiatior is how the LSPs service their customers, how they leverage information to continuously improve their relationships with their customer and become strategic partners.
But even these approaches do not provide a winning business model for the likes of DHL, K&N or Agility. The problem here is that business success depends from the critical assets a company owns in the supply chain. And the reality is that LSPs do not own any critical assets. Most of them are perfectly interchangeable.
That is why the LSPs need to re-invent themselves.
mardi 15 septembre 2009
Advise from Dale Carnegie
Do not underestimate Self-importance
Names MatterNoble Motives Appeal
Questions can replace Orders in a subtle way
No critics
Avoid confrontation
Allow Saving Face
Praise and recognize mistakes
Create reputation to live up to
Know persons drivers
Know and share passions and interests
Check others viewpoints
Listen intensively
Let Others talk
Read message
Sympathize
Make happy about job
Create Challenges
Make fixes easy
Practice Smile
Add Drama
Dogs show love - always
mardi 1 septembre 2009
What are the keys to Organizational Excellence?
Please, help me to find out, what are the keys to Organizational Excellence?
The keys to organizational excellence concerns with: Mission, Vision and Core Values Style of Management; Strategic Management; Structure and Systems; Organizational Renewal Processes. Please help me on this issues, because it does relate with practical scenario..
1. Sustainability.
As long as you did not train your employees to have a certain standard which allows each of them to share and exchange tips about how to work better you will not have empowered employees and you will not have a team continuously improving their ways of work with colleagues.
2. Empowerment
Without empowerment, no sustainability.
3. Customer Feedback
Without Customer Feedback no sustainability, and therefore no excellence.
The keys to organizational excellence concerns with: Mission, Vision and Core Values Style of Management; Strategic Management; Structure and Systems; Organizational Renewal Processes. Please help me on this issues, because it does relate with practical scenario..
1. Sustainability.
As long as you did not train your employees to have a certain standard which allows each of them to share and exchange tips about how to work better you will not have empowered employees and you will not have a team continuously improving their ways of work with colleagues.
2. Empowerment
Without empowerment, no sustainability.
3. Customer Feedback
Without Customer Feedback no sustainability, and therefore no excellence.
dimanche 23 août 2009
The limits of Process Excellence
Processes have subprocesses and subprocesses are group of tasks.
When the system becomes too complex, like the human body or a supply chain, tweaking a few inputs will not adress the problems.
The system requires redesign or drastic adjustments which neither Lean methods nor Six Sigma can provide...
When the system becomes too complex, like the human body or a supply chain, tweaking a few inputs will not adress the problems.
The system requires redesign or drastic adjustments which neither Lean methods nor Six Sigma can provide...
samedi 22 août 2009
Why standardization matters
Standardization creates power and speed of reaction.
Take the United States of America. They all speak the same language. This in turn, allows them to share stories, myths and beliefs and build a common culture. It provides a base to build large systems, efficient organizations and rapidly share information. It is the basis of the power of Walmart, MacDonald, Coca Cola, Microsoft, Google, Disney or Hollywood. This culture can then dominate other less efficient cultures with fewer economies of scale.
While a dominant culture is great to leverage investments and efforts, it is said that efficiency and cultural dominance can reduce the richness of other cultures and block competition. The main argument against standardization is indeed that it blocks innovation.
I would tend to disagree with that. Innovation does require standards, a systemic approach and discipline. As Toyota discovered where there is no standard, there cannot be improvements. And where there is no quality new, more effective cultures will take the upper hand from the dominant thinking.
Take the United States of America. They all speak the same language. This in turn, allows them to share stories, myths and beliefs and build a common culture. It provides a base to build large systems, efficient organizations and rapidly share information. It is the basis of the power of Walmart, MacDonald, Coca Cola, Microsoft, Google, Disney or Hollywood. This culture can then dominate other less efficient cultures with fewer economies of scale.
While a dominant culture is great to leverage investments and efforts, it is said that efficiency and cultural dominance can reduce the richness of other cultures and block competition. The main argument against standardization is indeed that it blocks innovation.
I would tend to disagree with that. Innovation does require standards, a systemic approach and discipline. As Toyota discovered where there is no standard, there cannot be improvements. And where there is no quality new, more effective cultures will take the upper hand from the dominant thinking.
mercredi 12 août 2009
The Complexity of Human Systems
Inspired from the 8th Habit by Steve Covey
A statement from the book.
John Gardner summarized it as follows: 'Most ailing organizations have developed a functional blindness to their own defects'. They are not suffering because they cannot resolve their problems, but because they cannot see their problems'.
Flawed paradigms are at the basis of the poor business results; in this case it is that the industrial age was based on the assumption that machines and capital created the wealth and not people. People were necessary but replacable.
The fundamental reality is human beings are not things needing to be motivated and controlled. Knowledge workers are four-dimensional - body, mind, heart and spirit.
And great organizations unleash this human potential by inspiring individuals to find their voice, a complex balancing act of trust through shared values, empowerment and allignment.
Too complex for a mathematician. Data and statistics are more easy to 'stimulate' and 'control'. And Google will organize the worlds' information for us.
A statement from the book.
John Gardner summarized it as follows: 'Most ailing organizations have developed a functional blindness to their own defects'. They are not suffering because they cannot resolve their problems, but because they cannot see their problems'.
Flawed paradigms are at the basis of the poor business results; in this case it is that the industrial age was based on the assumption that machines and capital created the wealth and not people. People were necessary but replacable.
The fundamental reality is human beings are not things needing to be motivated and controlled. Knowledge workers are four-dimensional - body, mind, heart and spirit.
And great organizations unleash this human potential by inspiring individuals to find their voice, a complex balancing act of trust through shared values, empowerment and allignment.
Too complex for a mathematician. Data and statistics are more easy to 'stimulate' and 'control'. And Google will organize the worlds' information for us.
lundi 10 août 2009
The essence of Six Sigma
If one would ask about the essence of Six Sigma, it would be not to jump to conclusions but observe the process first and listen to the data.
Is the process really broken? Is this a real problem? Should we do something about this? Or are we just facing natural process variation?
Wherever we see numbers change, our Western filosofy leads to action and reaction. Stock price down, we buy more or sell the stock. Increase of the unemployment number, we get worried about a looming recession. Less Profit. Down goes our bonus or we re-organize the department.
Six Sigma teaches that instead of over-reacting, we should first ask 5 times Why? Do we really face a problem? Do we understand the root cause? And more important, can we fix the problem?
Six Sigma theory shows that only predictable processes can be improved. You can only fix what already works. And something that works is predictable and understood.
Where there is no standard, there can be no improvement.
Is the process really broken? Is this a real problem? Should we do something about this? Or are we just facing natural process variation?
Wherever we see numbers change, our Western filosofy leads to action and reaction. Stock price down, we buy more or sell the stock. Increase of the unemployment number, we get worried about a looming recession. Less Profit. Down goes our bonus or we re-organize the department.
Six Sigma teaches that instead of over-reacting, we should first ask 5 times Why? Do we really face a problem? Do we understand the root cause? And more important, can we fix the problem?
Six Sigma theory shows that only predictable processes can be improved. You can only fix what already works. And something that works is predictable and understood.
Where there is no standard, there can be no improvement.
dimanche 9 août 2009
Business Success by John Collins - Just a Marketing Fad?
Business Book writer John Collins demonstrates an obsession with Business Success.
All his books are around that theme:
1) From Good to Great
2) Build to Last
3) How the mighty fail
Can we apply all these learnings? Is the methodology applied in these books scientifically sound? Is it justified to learn from the experience from others to become successfull? Without an answer to these important questions, it is impossible to become successfull just by copying successfull companies.
Eventually the very systematic and data-driven approach from John Collins would be laughed away by Andrew Cox as merely barefoot empiricism. Years ago, this excentric University lecturer from Birmingham University started a crusade against the dominant thinking that success comes from successful competition in the marketplace.
In the end this critique is against an inappropriate way of thinking.
* 'Fads' cannot work outside the circumstances in which it was originally implemented
* 'Fads' are based on a benchmarking mentality of observation of past practices and is no guide to future action
* Succesful adaptation can only lead to a war of competitive imitation
* Such approach is unsound as a guide to appropriate behabviour for particular companies under specific circumstances
Taking a fresh look at our ignorance about why some companies are successfull and others are not, Andrew Cox came to see power relations in the supply chain as the key lever to business success. The one who controls the key assets in the supply chain through innovation builds a successfull monopoly and temporarily eliminates the competitive pressures of the marketplace.
A new exciting area of scientific exploration that could give great rewards - if one came to understand better what brings business success...
All his books are around that theme:
1) From Good to Great
2) Build to Last
3) How the mighty fail
Can we apply all these learnings? Is the methodology applied in these books scientifically sound? Is it justified to learn from the experience from others to become successfull? Without an answer to these important questions, it is impossible to become successfull just by copying successfull companies.
Eventually the very systematic and data-driven approach from John Collins would be laughed away by Andrew Cox as merely barefoot empiricism. Years ago, this excentric University lecturer from Birmingham University started a crusade against the dominant thinking that success comes from successful competition in the marketplace.
In the end this critique is against an inappropriate way of thinking.
* 'Fads' cannot work outside the circumstances in which it was originally implemented
* 'Fads' are based on a benchmarking mentality of observation of past practices and is no guide to future action
* Succesful adaptation can only lead to a war of competitive imitation
* Such approach is unsound as a guide to appropriate behabviour for particular companies under specific circumstances
Taking a fresh look at our ignorance about why some companies are successfull and others are not, Andrew Cox came to see power relations in the supply chain as the key lever to business success. The one who controls the key assets in the supply chain through innovation builds a successfull monopoly and temporarily eliminates the competitive pressures of the marketplace.
A new exciting area of scientific exploration that could give great rewards - if one came to understand better what brings business success...
samedi 8 août 2009
Entrepreneur, Leader or Manager?
In business, many talk about leadership.
Leaders shape the world. Leaders create vision. Leaders are the modern version of the ancient Greek heroes. Hercules was a Leader.Ulysses was a Leader. Achiles was a Leader. Each used a unique godly strenth to shape their world. They knew what they were good at and exploited these Strength. Very similar to the Strength Movement.
What the authors claim is that we can all be leaders provided we know our Strength.
Go to their Website and you'll discover StrengthBased Leadership.
http://strengths.gallup.com/110659/Homepage.aspx
Managers are like Mother Theresa. They love People. They understand we are not Gods and have more weaknesses than strengths. They watch, listen, feel, talk, laugh, hug and whisper caring words. They are taking care of each, making sure we feel loved and happy. They create a family to avoid that problems are hindering our wellbeing and performance.
Entrepreneurs, to complete the gallery are like Richard Branson. At the heart of business are people bursting with ideas and surrounded by people willing to give it a try. Great entrepreneurs create excitement about a not yet created future. They create a new future, together with others. They want to become rich.
Let's all become entrepreneurs and we will discover the great managers and leaders amongst us.
Leaders shape the world. Leaders create vision. Leaders are the modern version of the ancient Greek heroes. Hercules was a Leader.Ulysses was a Leader. Achiles was a Leader. Each used a unique godly strenth to shape their world. They knew what they were good at and exploited these Strength. Very similar to the Strength Movement.
What the authors claim is that we can all be leaders provided we know our Strength.
Go to their Website and you'll discover StrengthBased Leadership.
http://strengths.gallup.com/110659/Homepage.aspx
Managers are like Mother Theresa. They love People. They understand we are not Gods and have more weaknesses than strengths. They watch, listen, feel, talk, laugh, hug and whisper caring words. They are taking care of each, making sure we feel loved and happy. They create a family to avoid that problems are hindering our wellbeing and performance.
Entrepreneurs, to complete the gallery are like Richard Branson. At the heart of business are people bursting with ideas and surrounded by people willing to give it a try. Great entrepreneurs create excitement about a not yet created future. They create a new future, together with others. They want to become rich.
Let's all become entrepreneurs and we will discover the great managers and leaders amongst us.
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