Reflecting on it now, I believe this is the essence of supply chain excellence.

Strategy, Tactics and Work
Writing in a time of sweeping social and cultural change, Pirsig used the hard reality of the motorcycle to explore the meaning of life. The setting is an early 1970's cross-country road trip and the logical cleaving point pits the rise of technology against the still fresh glow of 1960's romanticism. The narrator's mental quest is a search for some universal meaning that binds both. In the end it comes down to quality.

Quality is a familiar concept to supply chain strategists, even if clear agreement on metrics and definitions is elusive. In manufacturing terms, the Six Sigma movement gave us one way of pursuing quality that offered precision. In logistics and fulfillment, we've been comfortable chasing the "perfect order" or OTIF (On Time In Full). In planning, we aim for forecast accuracy.

And yet, none of these goals is really enough. Today we strive for agility, which sounds good but is still too slippery a concept to measure well, and in any case is a catch-all for doing everything well.

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