I Can Be Agile. Just Tell Me What to Do.
There's been plenty of buzz in recent years about the "real-time" or "agile" enterprise, but turning a company in that direction is difficult. The reason: Most organizations cling to a hierarchical management structure, with decision-making left to a handful of top executives and their lieutenants left waiting around for marching orders. So says Michael H. Hugos, who has just penned a new book on business agility: The Greatest Innovation Since the Assembly Line: Powerful Strategies for Business Agility. What are the biggest obstacles preventing companies from becoming agile? How can they be overcome? "It's not about rigid, pyramid-shaped hierarchies," Hugos says. "It's about autonomous networks (of people) who are empowered to figure out how to get things done. But right now that jealous guarding of corporate hierarchy is based on prerogatives. Those are the trappings that are going to have to dissolve, because they're don't inspire much value anymore. It has to continue to decentralize."
Source: Computerworld, http://computerworld.com
UK Workers Aimlessly Surfing. But Yours Work Hard, Right?
Now what was I looking for? Once merely the wistful question of the gray-haired set, the phrase has--in classic internet fashion--been reduced to an acronym, turned into a verb, and given a new definition. In the United Kingdom, the act of wandering aimlessly through the Web's endless hyperlinks is now known as "wilfing" (What Was I Looking For). And, according to a British market research firm, wilfing is becoming a national epidemic.
In a survey of 2,412 adults across the country, YouGov PLC found that more than two-thirds of UK internet surfers admit to at least an occasional wilf, and nearly one quarter estimate that they wilf more than 30 percent of the time they're online. That's the equivalent of two full workdays every month.
Source: BPM Today, http://www.bpm-today.com
SAP America CEO Salutes Colgate-Palmolive Supply Chain
Colgate-Palmolive is a state-of-the-art role model in terms of its global supply chain, says Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP America. "CIO Ed Toben had a vision of having all their business processes--from the way they manufacture a product, manage that product in the supply chain, stock it on a shelf and ultimately send it home with the customer--managed and integrated with one instant platform globally. They did that 10 years ago.
"Now they're taking that one step further with an enterprise service-oriented architecture. They're service-enabling the platform, which basically means that they can take an SAP innovation or anyone else's innovation and, as long as it's compliant with the Internet, snap it in. For example, Colgate-Palmolive spends millions of dollars on promotions in stores. To make sure a promotion is actually working, they use a piece called trade promotion management that you can snap right on to the platform to fix that specific business issue."
Source: Chief Executive, http://chiefexecutive.net
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Sun's Green Policy Sends Workers Home
Last year Sun Microsystems promised to reduce its corporate greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent from 2002 levels by 2012. So Sun now encourages employees to work from home, to share offices and to work at satellite locations. Now 55 percent of employees have given up their offices. The company calculates that 30,000 tons in carbon emissions are thus eliminated by reduced commuting as well as office heating and cooling needs. In 2006, the company saved, it figures, $67.8 million in real estate and related operating costs as a result of not having to maintain those offices.
At Sun it's considered part of the eco-boss's role even to help make the office a more efficient place in the moments when employees are there. "If you're just calling people and e-mailing you'll do that from home or from a Starbucks," says Dave Douglas, Sun vice president for eco-responsibility. "So what is the office for? How do you encourage people to be part of brainstorming on software development projects? What's the role of the space? I'm working with architects and rethinking floors in some of our buildings."
Source: Money, http://money.cnn.com
North Dakota Second State to Ban RFID Tracking Chips
Governor John Hoeven of North Dakota has signed a law banning forced chip implants on humans. Hoeven stated the law's objective: "We need to strike a balance as we continue to develop this technology between what it can do and our civil liberties, our right to privacy." The action reportedly makes North Dakota the second state to pass a ban on RFID tracking chips, following Wisconsin.
Painting an Orwellian picture, Hoeven said, "Ultimately, with RFID tagging systems, corporations will be able to monitor everything we buy, everywhere we go and, perhaps as these technologies develop, everything we say."
Source: MoreRFID, http://www.shortnews.com
Manufacturers Mostly Produce Where They Sell, Report Shows
Academic research is beginning to validate what corporate CEOs have known for decades: U.S. companies thrive by setting up production facilities close to their customers, either domestic or foreign. Multinational firms account for over 87 percent of value-added among manufacturers and about two-thirds of all employment. While multinationals have been unfairly maligned for exporting jobs and capital, the dynamic process of globalization strengthens the long-term prospects of the firms, including U.S.-based operations.
Data from Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI show that the vast majority of sales by foreign affiliates--about 88 percent--is to the local or regional markets. In 2004, only 10 percent of sales by foreign affiliates went back to the U.S. parent for sale in the United States, a slight decline over the last 10 years. This belies the populist notion that U.S. multinationals are sending production abroad simply to seek lower costs and displace domestic production. Moreover, U.S. firms also show little growth in outsourcing to foreign suppliers, as the percent of their purchases represented by imports has grown only slightly from 14 percent in 1994 to 16 percent in 2004.
Source: Industry Week, http://industryweek.com
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Become an Evangelist for Collaborative Relationships
Introducing collaborative processes into an organization may not be easy without the enabling or supporting technology. A collaborative approach changes how people relate to each other and people tend to resist change. Therefore, a collaborative culture cannot be forced on staff, and must be delivered in a way that allows them to become converts after experiencing the benefits for themselves. Collaboration is what makes a community, and allows information and knowledge to be exchanged within that community. It enables organizations to exploit their knowledge capital to the full, to learn from their collective experience, and not repeat past mistakes.
Source: CBR Online, http://cbronline.com
Everyone Wants Into China, Including Airport Operators
It turns out manufacturers, carriers and logistics companies are not the only part of the air cargo business interested in China's potential.
Attracted by an ambitious expansion program led by the government, and by the flood of related businesses moving into China, foreign capital and management expertise is pouring into China's airport operations. The push by China's regional neighbors and other airport and cargo handling companies is remaking the country's airport landscape as surely as the bulldozers and building cranes are remaking the city skylines, and it promises to remake air trade patterns that already are being reshaped by China's manufacturing boom.
Source: Air Cargo World, http://aircargoworld.com
Dunkin' Donuts Uses Intel to Battle Starbucks
Northeastern coffee connoisseurs fall into two camps: those that prefer Starbucks and those that go for the brew at Dunkin' Donuts. The latter's orange-and-pink cups may be old school, but the company is using modern technology to try and outsmart Starbucks for the best franchise operators and locations.
The coffee war is playing out in such areas as Boston, New York, and other Northeast locales, where the bulk of Dunkin' Donut's 5,000 U.S. franchises are located, and where Starbucks is determinedly pushing in.
To help it win this race, Dunkin' Donuts is using a new system that helps it more quickly close deals with "customers," who in the franchising world are the people who apply to run a franchise, pay the franchise fee after the approval process, and then pay royalties. Salespeople and managers use the system to manage information about these customers, including the stage of each potential deal and how financing is going for them. This is particularly important in the competition against Starbucks, which doesn't franchise, so its growth isn't stalled by difficulty finding suitable and willing franchise operators and getting them signed up quickly.
Dunkin' Donuts managers use a dashboard-type software application to identify any problem areas so they can keep deals on track. The can get a geographic view of regions where deals are stalling, and then drill down into a specific account to determine what's slowing down the process. They can identify potential deals in locales that are too close in proximity. They also can identify high-performing areas, and gather best practices from those regions' salespeople to share with other areas. Key metrics they're watching include the average cycle time for getting a franchise deal done, the size of deals, and average cycle time by what type of deal gets done.
Source: Information Week, http://www.informationweek.com
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Just What Is This Master Data Everyone Seems to Be Talking About?
Companies have learned that simply throwing data into a single system doesn't solve the more pressing problem of reconciling that information so that there is a single version of the truth. In light of that, companies are now striving to create logical links among the disparate data that populates not just a database, but a variety of applications across the enterprise, and sometimes even down to the plant level. The concept has evolved into what industry observers call master data management (MDM). But what is MDM? Is it a database? Middleware? Integration technology? The answer is that it's all of that, and much more.
Source: Managing Automation, http://www.managingautomation.com
Sink Roots, Don't Just Spread Branches
To succeed in any foreign country, an American-born business must understand and respect local culture, history, customs, habits, and diet, as well as grasp the nuances of local language. Hiring local managers can pay off tremendously. For example, Procter & Gamble has become the most successful foreign marketer in China by making a personal investment in Chinese talent. In addition to hiring and developing local managers, P&G dispatches hundreds of researchers to live with Chinese families and observe how they approach everyday tasks, from changing the baby to brushing their teeth. The resulting knowledge plays into product names, positioning, and advertising. And wherever possible, P&G formulates products using local flavors, colors, and textures. Jasmine-flavored Crest toothpaste, for instance, capitalizes on the Chinese belief that tea is good for controlling bad breath.
Source: Optimize, http://www.optimizemag.com The Customer Value and Innovation Feedback Loop
Creativity is clearly not in short supply in today's top manufacturers. The latest products, from integrated punch presses to iPods, move from idea to launch with dazzling speed. Customers today have been conditioned to understand that "state-of-the-art" really means "to be replaced in about two months by the newer, vastly improved version."
The days are gone when a company could market a successful product, coast on its success and remain a viable enterprise.
Most business leaders realize continual improvement and innovation are required to maintain long-term profitability, competitiveness, and market share in today's global economy.
When taking industrial innovation to the global stage, a company must maximize and leverage its global infrastructure to avoid duplicating efforts. Such internal efficiency, however, is no substitute for the absolutely vital need to understand the customer's market, economy, culture, value chains and more.
Source: CRM Buyer, http://crmbuyer.com
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Bear Sterns: Truckload Capacity Up, Demand Is Down
After seeing unprecedented demand and pricing for their services in the recent past, trucking firms are reporting a decrease in demand in early 2007, which is good news for shippers and freight buyers looking for more capacity and an end to high rates.
According to a recent Bear Stearns survey, 80 percent of shippers polled reported overcapacity in truckload in the fourth quarter, up dramatically from 54 percent in the third quarter. In the same poll, 71 percent of shippers reported overcapacity in the LTL market in the fourth quarter. And 51 percent of shippers polled expect more truckload capacity to come online in the next 12 months.
Source: Purchasing, http://www.purchasing.com
The Top 25 Global 3PLs
Top logistics providers continue to grow in size and scope as current and potential customers look for partners who can do it all. Will these expanding 3PLs be able to meet their customers' far-reaching needs or are they in danger of becoming lumbering giants?
In the May issue of Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies magazine.
