After years of oscillating between shortfalls and surpluses and the chaos and frustration that this entailed, calm has recently returned for one of my clients and his supplier. How come? They simply turned off their MRP system. The consequences of this decision have been astounding. By reducing the delivery time from several months to just a few...
Machine manufacturers suffering from high costs and long unreliable lead times can make huge gains in terms of competitive edge if they manage to resolve the so-called ‘service paradox’: from relatively slow, unreliable and inefficient to reliable, fast and efficient!Machine builders develop and manufacture often-complex machines, many of which...
In an edition of the Dutch newspaper Het Parool dated 17 February 1967 I came across a full-page advertisement in which the high-end Amsterdam department store De Bijenkorf proudly announced its 26 (!) collections per year – ‘fast fashion’ way ahead of its time. In fact, it took until the start of this century before fast fashion really achieved...
Not long ago, QRM was heralded as the new Lean, and now we are bombarded with DDMRP as the panacea for all our problems. It seems as if the different schools, in their hunger to sell more books, software, and / or advice, put more energy into highlighting the differences than celebrating what unites them. Meanwhile, they leave many an...
How can I get – and above all, keep – the Sales department involved in sales & operations planning (S&OP)? That’s the million dollar question in many S&OP processes. The Supply Chain organisation is the driving force in virtually all S&OP set-ups – which is logical, in a way. After all, the operation won’t get far without planning, and planning...
Recently, one of my customers stated that ‘the total supply chain inventory says as much about the health of a company as weight says about the health of a person’. If you look at it like that, then my colleagues and I have once again had the privilege of helping a considerable number of ‘seriously overweight patients’ to slim down healthily...
Implementation of a Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process is often considered as an important change in the way an organisation works. Therefore, an implementation project should take a solid approach that addresses all the success factors involved in that change. But the last step in the change approach is often neglected:...
‘Pee contract’ (plascontract in Dutch) just missed out on being crowned Dutch ‘Word of the Year’ in 2016. Pee contract. Maybe you heard about it? The Dutch called it a disgrace. There was a written agreement between the Grootenhoek care home and one of its female residents stating that she was officially allowed to go to the toilet at 11 a.m., 2...
In his brilliant book “Leading without Commanding”, Filip Vandendriessche describes how managers often create their own problems. By managing on input rather than output, they create resistance rather than buy-in. This simple observation also holds important lessons for S&OP. In a process where people make the difference, input management kills...
Effective production management contributes to achieving the company goals. However, manufacturing companies regularly face challenges such as disappointing customer experiences and excessive costs. All too often it becomes apparent that long lead times are still too short, high inventories are still too low and substantial capacities are still...