NAM: How Manufacturers Can Strengthen Supply Chains’ Resilience Since the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, supply chains have faced extraordinary challenges around the world. In the midst of shortages and disruptions, as well as global con- flicts, how can manufacturers ensure that they receive the materials they need and deliver their products on time? At a recent NAM event, Supply Chain Insights Founder Lora Cecere addressed the question of how the industry can build resiliency into the supply chain of the future. As Cecere noted, in many cases manufacturers may have different ideas about what resilience represents — and it’s important to settle on a clear definition. “I define resilience as the ability to have the same cost quality and customer service given the level of demand and supply variability,” she said. While most manufacturers talk about the supply chain as a unified system, Cecere encouraged participants to differentiate various kinds of supply chains from one an- other. “We have responsive supply chains that are all about time — things like flu vaccines and bathing suits,” which must be shipped during certain seasons, Cecere said. “And then there’s the agile supply chain, which is very low volume and not predictable. We can’t measure that in the same way we measure the efficient supply chain, but we
need to manage flow. We don’t have just one supply chain. We have multiple supply chains.” As businesses design and adjust their supply chains, customers can get lost in the equation. In one exercise, she asks participants to draw a supply chain — and the results she’s received show how many manufacturers are leaving out an important piece of the puzzle. “Most people will start with a truck, smokestack, then a factory, a mill,” said Cecere. “But isn’t the supply chain really about the customer? And how do we align the cus- tomer from the customer’s customer to the supplier’s sup- plier? The role of the supply chain is the delivery to the customer.” According to Cecere, about 80 percent of supply chain data is not used. She encourages manufacturers to look creatively at the wide range of data available to generate useful insights. “We’re not looking at all the data we have, and we’re not thinking hard enough about how we use it,” she said. Cecere encouraged participants to develop teams of “purple unicorns” — people with strong supply chain do- main knowledge who can also innovate — and allow them to test new ideas and learn from failure. “Supply chain excellence is not functional excellence — it is the ability to drive outcomes,” said Cecere. “This cannot be about the lowest cost; this has to be about the best potential of flow for cost, quality, customer service and inventory.”
DUROMETER VS. COMPRESSION FORCE DEFLECTION (PSI)
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18 October 16, 2023
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