564 Posts Found

Supply chain risk is an increasingly common topic and for good reason: Almost any disruption—weather event, supply failure, technology glitch, financial fiasco—can affect a company’s ability to manage its supply chain. Accenture discusses the many forms of risk, surveys risk management technologies and introduces a five-step risk management program.

Content: Article | Authors: Carlos A. Alvarenga, Eric E. Lehmann | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Operations, Risk Management

The first question for organizations exploring multiple supply chains is how many are needed. Answering it requires a close look at the way the supply chain assets that a company uses to manufacture and distribute its products matches up against the strategic aspirations it has for those products and their customers.

This requirement seems obvious, but in practice most companies examine only the second half of … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Alex Niemeyer, Brian Ruwadi, Yogesh Malik | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Operations

Getting there means ditching today’s monolithic model in favor of splintered supply chains that dismantle complexity, and using manufacturing networks to hedge uncertainty.

Content: Article | Authors: Alex Niemeyer, Brian Ruwadi, Yogesh Malik | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Operations

If a company makes purchases from its suppliers more unpredictably than it sells to its customers, it is said to “bullwhip.” Bullwhips can cause problems in the supply chain because it may be difficult for suppliers to adjust production in response to the changeable demand.

“Up until now,” says Robert Bray, an assistant professor of managerial economics and decision sciences at the Kellogg School, “anyone who … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: Kellogg Insight | Subject: Operations

Product failure is deceptively difficult to understand. It depends not just on how customers use a product but on the intrinsic properties of each part—what it’s made of and how those materials respond to wildly varying conditions. Estimating a product’s lifespan is an art that even the most sophisticated manufacturers still struggle with. And it’s getting harder. In our Moore’s law-driven age, we expect devices … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Robert Capps | Source: Wired | Subject: Operations

Changes in the marketplace, if not monitored, can cause serious losses in profit, market share, and in stakeholders’ confidence. Such was the case with one of the most celebrated American companies, Hershey’s. When the company failed to keep its ear to the ground and eye on the ball it lost touch with consumers and retailers. A shift in the company’s focus and a re-alignment of … [ Read more ]

Content: Case Study | Author: Rick Kash | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Management, Marketing / Sales, Operations, Strategy | Industry: Food Products/Service | Company: Hershey’s

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Manufacturers can generate new value, minimize costs, and increase operational stability by focusing on four broad areas: production, product design, value recovery, and supply-circle management.

Content: Article | Authors: Helga Vanthournout, Ken Somers, Stephan Mohr, Steven Swartz | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Operations, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Discretion is the enemy of order, standardization and quality.

Content: Quotation | Author: Theodore Levitt | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior, Quality

In the business world, the equivalent white lie to, “The check is in the mail,” is: “Our suppliers are our partners.” Both statements represent promises that should be kept, but aren’t. They represent good intentions, but lack reality.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Wincel | Source: Optimize Magazine | Subject: Operations

The short-term cost savings of outsourcing were very apparent, very attractive, and very seductive to companies [that] were desperately trying to improve their earnings per share quarter to quarter. But when you outsource something, you tend to make it more generic. You tend to lose control over it. You tend to pass a lot of the technology, particularly on the manufacturing or service delivery side, … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael E. Porter | Source: BusinessWeek | Subject: Outsourcing / BPO

During the Great Recession, this iconic Swedish furniture company developed a new way to expand: cutting costs while increasing customer loyalty.

Content: Case Study | Authors: Art Kleiner, Deniz Caglar, Marco Kesteloo | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Industry Specific, Operations | Industry: Retail | Company: Ikea

There are a number of open questions about the COO role and its place in company leadership. This article sheds some light on two of the most fundamental of these open questions: What does it take for a COO to succeed, and what is it that makes a great COO candidate?

Content: Article | Authors: Nathan Bennett, Stephen A. Miles | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Management, Operations

To improve manufacturing operations, don’t forget to fix the organizational issues that can hinder performance. These guidelines can help your company choose the optimal manufacturing setup, based on such factors as your industry, markets, customers, products, internal capabilities, competitive position, and overall strategy. Also included: tactics for managing the inevitable tradeoffs.

Content: Article | Authors: Daniel Spindelndreier, Frank Lesmeister, Michael Zinser | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Management, Operations, Strategy

Current thinking on operational excellence focuses mainly on improving performance while neglecting companies’ interoperability. The central tenet of A.T. Kearney’s Theory of Everything in Operations is that, to achieve operational excellence, organizations must improve performance within functions while promoting collaboration across functions.

Content: Article | Source: Kearney | Subjects: Management, Operations

Effectively managing service operations is crucial to controlling labor costs and improving customer satisfaction. By addressing six drivers of performance, executives can go a step further — turning their service operations into a key source of competitive advantage.

Content: Article | Authors: Curt Bailey, Harry Hawkes, Patricia Riedl | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Customer Related, Operations

When you decided to start a business, it probably wasn’t the fun of keeping up with the latest employment regulations, tax issues, and OSHA requirements that lit your fire. Nevertheless, if you have even a single employee, you’re stuck with all that and more. You’re not alone and fortunately, where there is opportunity there are generally entrepreneurs with a solution. Enter the world of professional … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Kate Lister | Source: OPEN Forum (American Express) | Subjects: Human Resources, Outsourcing / BPO, Small Business

CFOs and other senior executives already know the importance of inventory management. And yet even the most attentive managers often find it difficult to get it right. In our work with clients, we’ve found that decision makers often rely on external benchmarks that seldom deliver expected insights. And they make operating assumptions that send them down the wrong path. Two of the classic misconceptions: improving … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: Bain & Company | Subject: Operations

During the early days of the quality revolution, when quality improvement efforts were focused primarily on manufacturing, managers measured hard facts – errors, rejects, and production time – as a way to document tangible improvements in the production process.

But quality is no longer a revolutionary idea. As it has spread beyond manufacturing and as the movement has matured, the words “quality” and “measurement” have taken … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Diane Schmalensee | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Operations

Vertical integration does not necessarily mean that a company’s upstream plants supply inputs to its downstream operations. In fact, it is more likely that they do not.

Content: Article | Authors: Ali Hortaçsu, Chad Syverson | Source: Capital Ideas | Subjects: Operations, Strategy