“Crawl, Walk, Run” -Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning – September 26th, 2016
How far forward do you forecast your business? Do you forecast by dollars only? Do you start over every fiscal year preparing your budget from scratch? In a “Traditional” business or organization, SIOP, or SI&OP (Sales, Inventory and Operations Planning), is not a common process used by a leadership team. To begin a continuous improvement (CI) journey to “World-Class”, this tool will soon become your best friend.
How “Program du jour” Can Damage the Business – September 10th, 2016
Would you agree, that all improvement initiatives start out meaning well for the businesses and organizations that elect to embark on the “program du jour”? Today more than ever, we get business improvement ideas from social media, industry associations, magazines, radio, and television, just to name a few sources. All potentially good ideas if properly applied to the application. In our enthusiasm to help the business or organization, we sometimes go overboard and bombard our teams with several new programs to implement simultaneously. If the leadership team fails to prioritize the initiatives, they all get started and most never come close to being fully implemented. Don’t you also agree that this scenario could actually damage the business rather than improve it?
“A Start Without a Finish, the Journey to World-class” August 26th, 2016
Why do so many traditional businesses fail on their journey to world-class? It seems that too many businesses barely escape the gravitational pull of their traditional core. They stumble and fade near the starting line. I have a theory; try typing “start without a finish” in a web browser. More than likely, you will get page after page of articles and websites focused on finishing what you start. On my search, the first hit was an article on “Productivity” with the headline, “Finish what you start …”.
“Learn to Celebrate a Failure, A Cultural Shift for Traditional Organizations” August 10th, 2016
How do you convince the workforce that we can turn a failure into a win? It is one of the hardest cultural shifts to make for a traditional business that aspires to be world-class.
Managing Through Unexpected Departures “Mind the Gap” -Aug 3rd, 2016
In Britain, “Mind the Gap” is a warning to rail passengers to take caution while crossing the gap between the train door and the station platform. Makes sense to me, why put oneself in harm’s way moving between Mother Earth and a very heavy, moving object. On the same lines, I would like you to take caution with regard to managing through gaps in your leadership team created by unexpected departures, transfers, promotions, or dismissals. So I say, “mind that gap!”
“When are we ever going to make a profit?” May 24th, 2013
When we read about business strategy and company growth, we think of the magical combination of Business Development, Marketing and Engineering working together to link customer needs with technology which when done correctly, yields growth. The outcome often varies due to the knowledge and skill of those involved. It also helps if the company has a proven process, the cash to invest in the product and market development, and a little luck. Unfortunately, like with most things, there’s no guaranties that this will always be a winning combination or that the assembled team has the proven strategic process and experiences to turn all these good ideas and technologies into the illusive revenue growth that becomes the lifeblood of the company. Its hard work and requires discipline. There’s one attribute that rarely gets included early in the strategic planning stage, the Operation’s and Supply Chain (O&SC) strategy. Without it, many good ideas fail to deliver.
“The Game of Hide-and-Seek” Mar 8th, 2013
What could possible go wrong? Your M&A due diligence team just wrapped up their assessments of a multiple site manufacturing business, and your ready to complete the acquisition. Your experienced Executive team walked a few of the factories, kicking tires and filling out your company’s due diligence check list. All seems in order. Your financial team and legal team thoroughly analyzed reports and documents looking for abnormalities and liabilities. All have been identified and accounted for in your offer.
Fast forward to post acquisition…