• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Supply Chain Transformation Hits a Brick Wall …

Supply Chain Transformation Hits a Brick Wall …

October 24, 2012
Pat McLagan, CEO, GoalStreams LLC

In the traditional organization, decisions and actions are heavily influenced by internal (vs. customer) requirements, vertical (vs. horizontal) relationships, functional (vs. integrative) thinking, and static/periodic (vs. dynamic) management processes.  While internal, vertical, functional, and periodic ways of thinking continue to play a role, the balance must shift in order for the real benefit of end-to-end supply chains - the ability to operate as a high value network - to be realized.

Technology and new supply chain structures and processes can help organizations to become more able to operate across boundaries within and between organizations.  But this is not enough:  the way people everywhere in the organization think and the mental models that guide their day to day actions must also be recast.

We must influence the structures inside people's minds as well as the structures and processes of organizations themselves.

Imagine these situations:

• A purchasing specialist is working on a problem related to stockouts at the end of the supply chain.  Her manager asks her to launch a study related to cost reduction for a series of parts.  She can't meet the deadlines for both.  Without thinking, she drops her work on the stockout problem and scurries to do her boss's bidding even though she thinks it is less important in the bigger picture.  The vertical allegiance has won out - without questioning or a tradeoff discussion about the larger business impact.

• A manufacturing manager accelerates production of a product to meet end-of-month production goals even though he has early warning information that customer needs are shifting.  His performance review is heavily weighted on the production measure, so he ignores the other signals.

• A product engineer misses several meetings of a cross-functional task team to investigate shifts in consumer usage patterns because he knows that participating won't increase his potential for promotion to the product manager job he desires.

• A customer calls the retail store to complain about the performance of a product.  The service agent says, "that isn't our problem; call the manufacturer."

• A leadership team has identified five strategies that require cross-organization cooperation.  The leaders articulate the strategies and then delegate in functional pieces down the vertical chain of command with no strong accountability links across the silos.

• A production worker notices indicators of a problem with his line.  He covers up the problem fearing a backlash and hoping that it will be resolved before the quarterly production numbers are in.  The problem results in defective products that are only noticed at the customer end and after a period of usage time.

In all of these examples, the person - regardless of level or function - has opted to favor internal over customer, vertical over horizontal, silo-focused vs. integrative, and static vs. dynamic actions.  The structures in their minds dictated actions that sub-optimized the supply chain - the value network.

One quick way to determine what structures exist in peoples' minds is to ask, "Please draw the organization and show where you are in it!"  If people draw the traditional organization chart and show where their boxes are, then they will probably bring that way of thinking to their minute-to-minute decisions and actions.  If they draw a network that also includes the customer and everyone else in the end-to-end value network, then it is likely that their daily work will reflect this and the tradeoffs it implies.

What to do about the structures in people's minds - their mental models?  Begin to change the following:

• the way you visually depict the organization and how it works (show the network)

• the stories about great performance (emphasize the horizontal, including impact on customers)

• the rewards you provide (for cooperation and winning with customers)

• the organization's accountability management/goal management processes (horizontal as well as vertical)

• the organization's way of managing strategies and changes into the business, and beyond that, into the value network with customers, partners and suppliers

If you want an organization/value network that is customer focused, horizontally oriented, thinks integratively, and is dynamically adaptable - then the place to begin and end is with the mental models of the people whose day-to-day decisions and actions comprise your REAL strategy - the strategy that actually gets done!

Source: GoalStreams LLC


Keywords: supply chain management, value chain, supply chain, integrative thinking, supply chain transformation

    RELATED CONTENT

    RELATED VIDEOS

    Supply Chain Planning & Optimization Technology Business Strategy Alignment Global Supply Chain Management Quality & Metrics Food & Beverage
    KEYWORDS Business Strategy Alignment Food and Beverage Global Supply Chain Management integrative thinking Quality & Metrics SC Planning & Optimization supply chain Supply Chain Analysis & Consulting Supply Chain Management supply chain transformation Technology Value chain
    Pat McLagan, CEO, GoalStreams LLC

    More from this author

    Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

    Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

    Popular Stories

    • A YELLOW CORP TRAILER IS BEING TRANSPORTED BY A FREIGHT TRAIN.

      Yellow Considering Offer to Revive Company, Rehire Thousands

      Global Logistics
    • WORKERS IN HI-VIS VESTS DISCUSS A SHEET OF PLANS IN THE MIDST OF CONSTRUCTION IN A WAREHOUSE SPACE.

      Lessons From the First Wave of Warehouse Automation

      Technology
    • TWO CARGO SHIPS DOCKED AT THE MIRAFLORES LOCKS IN THE PANAMA CANAL.

      Panama Canal Water Levels Will Affect Western Trade in 2024

      Global Gateways
    • A PERSON WITH A GREEN MARKER COLORS IN THE SMOKE BILLOWING OUT OF THE TOP OF A SMOKESTACK.

      Three Ways Technology Can Stop Greenwashing in its Tracks

      Global Trade Management
    • A SMALL SHOPPING CART WITH TWO BOXES SITS ON TOP OF AN OPEN LAPTOP THAT IS OPEN TO A SHOPPING WEBSITE.

      Podcast | Can Smaller E-tailers Match Amazon’s Same-Day Service?

      Last Mile Delivery

    Digital Edition

    Scb nov 2023 lg

    2023 Supply Chain Innovation Award

    VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

    Case Studies

    • A GRAPHIC SHOWING MULTIPLE FORMS OF SHIPPING, WITH A HUMAN STANDING AT THE CENTER, TOUCHING A SYMBOLIC MAP OF THE WORLD

      Enhancing High-Value Electronics Shipment Security with Tive's Real-Time Tracking

    • A GRAPHIC OF INTERLACING HONEYCOMBED ELEMENTS REPRESENTING GLOBAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS

      Moving Robots Site-to-Site

    • JLL Finds Perfect Warehouse Location, Leading to $15M Grant for Startup

    • Robots Speed Fulfillment to Help Apparel Company Scale for Growth

    • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

    Visit Our Sponsors

    Antuit Zebra Anvyl AutoStore
    BEUMER Group Blue Ridge Global Brightdrop
    Brother CHEP Cleo
    Coenterprise Comarch Data Capture
    E2open Enveyo Eva Air
    ForwardX Robotics Frayt GAINSystems
    Generix Geodis GEP
    Global Supply Chain Marketing Summit GreyOrange Here
    HICX Holman Logistics Infor
    Inmar Kinaxis Lexis Nexis
    Locus Robotics Logility LogistiVIEW
    Lucas Systems MCA Connect MCA Connect
    Moody’s Analytics MPO Old Dominion
    OneRail Overhaul PartnerLinQ (Visionet)
    Port of Virginia Rockwell Automation Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash
    Saddle Creek Logistics SAP Servicon
    Shyft Sourcemap SPS Commerce
    Tecsys TGW Systems Thomson Reuters
    Veho Verusen Walmart
    Workshop
    • More From SCB
      • Featured Content
      • Video Library
      • Think Tank Blog
      • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
      • Whitepapers
      • On-Demand Webinars
      • Upcoming Webinars
    • Digital Offerings
      • Digital Issue
      • Subscribe
      • Manage Your Subscription
      • Newsletters
    • Resources
      • Events Calendar
      • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
      • Supplier Directory
      • Case Study Showcase
      • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
      • 100 Great Partners Form
    • SCB Corporate
      • Advertise on SCB.COM
      • About Us
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact Us
      • Data Sharing Opt-Out

    All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

    Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing