'Change is the law of life' “Change is the law of life...” said John F. Kennedy during one of his speeches in 1963. This famous quote is more relevant for organisations today than ever before. The world around them is evolving increasingly quickly and companies are continuously involved in change – or at least they should be. But that’s not easy –...
The bullwhip effect is not only one of the best-known supply chain phenomena, but also one of the most damaging. By increasing the upstream variation and uncertainty, it pushes chain partners ever-deeper into the so-called planning mismatch, resulting in unreliability, inflexibility and inefficiency. The long-held belief has been that...
Get out of the box! Supply chain-strategies are being discussed a lot. The need is clear, but how can we take decisions within the supply chain if we don’t have a strategy? Supply chain professionals themselves are the main cause of this problem because they keep on acting like Calimero. They have to stop staying at the sideline and need to...
Back in the early nineties, Steve Jobs already realized that a well-designed, effective supply chain was paramount to Apple’s success. Hence he actively participated in managing it. Last year he was succeeded by the man who had been responsible for the supply chain for years. Apple’s story shows that supply chains need not merely be a source of...