Archive for the ‘Supply Chain’ Category

This week I have been talking about structural capital--the superpower of today's organization. And process is one of the most important and least understood in terms of its importance and its sustained value to an organization. Most internal processes in today’s organizations already have been automated to one degree or other. There are software programs for accounting, enterprise resource management, risk management, human resources management, performance ... Full story

When thinking of relationship capital, most people default to customers, who obviously are fundamentally important to your business. However, relationships with other kinds of partners are growing stronger and more important for the same reasons as those described yesterday for customers: increased outsourcing, increased linking of systems and the need for co-creation and innovation. I'll talk about partnerships in value creation and those that provide support ... Full story

As I progress in my career with Manhattan Associates as part of Asia-Pacific operations, I regularly try to revisit some of the concepts and principles that I feel should guide me in developing the experience and skills that are required of a supply chain professional. I would say that many in the supply chain ... Full story

For long time readers of All Roads, you will know that one of the topics i have follows has been related to the systemic issues apple has faced within its supply chain. it is a topic that in the last few days has come to a head with the near daily suicides occurring ... Full story

This is officially my 100th post, but I won't be doing any lengthy writing to celebrate. Rather, I want to highlight an article that complements some of my earlier posts on ports and logistics hubs. Considering that South Korea is very intent on strengthening its logistics infrastructure so as to be ... Full story

Relational Architecture   "the appropriate linkage between a supplier, the organization and its customers for maximum benefit; includes internal supply matter relationships throughout the organization."  If you haven't ever read the Silk Road International Blog, today is the day to start. The posts there consistently provide great insight into on-the-ground business in China. Earlier ... Full story

The most exciting thing about working for Manhattan Associates is the opportunity to positively impact the evolution of a client's business through supply chain improvement and innovation. As part of this experience, I am also in the position to have some impact internally on the evolution of the next generation of supply chain software by ... Full story

Having had to jump right in to my new project here in Melbourne, I haven't yet had much time to probe the internet for sources on supply chain management in Australia. But a quick search today brought up two news resources and one of these is Logistics Magazine. It seems to be ... Full story

As one of the Australia project managers involved in the deployment Manhattan Associates supply chain solutions, I have been in the trenches with a key 3PL client as they evolve through a strategic transformation in the way they manage the supply chains of their customers. Beginning with MA's transport planning and execution solution, the goal is to make advances in digitizing internal, operational processes within a single solution, integrate with key customers through a single interface layer, leverage powerful reporting and analysis tools to enhance regular and periodic decision-making and present a scalable, holistic logistics solution to the marketplace. Part of this effort involves the formation and deployment of a mobility solution that acts as part of the client's nerve center from which a portion of the information that drives supply chain intelligence is increased, aggregated and transformed for reporting and analysis. Full story

The discussions here of Afghanistan's Endless War have not only extended across boundaries, but also across time. This is because of my belief that the importance of Afghanistan cannot be understood unless the observer acquires a solid footing in the country's historical context as well as regional context. This of course holds true for many subjects of modern interest, but in the formulation and execution of strategy driven by governmental policies, we are constantly reminded of how easy it is to  become beholden to any number or accumulation of short-sighted, narrow-minded tactical maneuvers aimed at winning the day rather than empowering our future. Mr. Goodson writes with the foresight and wisdom of someone aimed at cultivating the empowerment of our future, including the future of Afghanistan, towards something worth creating for generations to come. This is why I cannot recommend this book enough as it relates to the current affairs of Afghanistan, and Chapter 6, simply titled "The Future of Afghanistan," does not disappoint in rounding off the previous chapters. Here, Mr. Goodson discusses the bedrock upon which a new Afghanistan must be laid, the required constitution of that bedrock, and how it must be cultivated and strengthened over time. He also steps back to clarify the lesson Afghanistan provides to the rest of the world in regards to failed states. Laying the Bedrock of a New Afghanistan Full story

One of the more common “China” questions asked over the last years has been “When would China begin exporting brands?”. There have of course been the anecdotal exceptions like Haier and TsingTao that people hold up as successful cases, and there was some talk that Chinese firms would leverage their cash positions to scoop up cheap Western assets during the recession. Transactions, which did not really materialize as some had planned. Sure there was the attempt by Tongcheng to take Hummer, but outside of that, there seemed to be little noticeable movements in Chinese firms taking down Western brands. But, if one were to look at the infrastructure sector, one would find plenty of activity, as the article China to bid on US high-speed rail projects recently highlighted: China plans to bid for contracts to build U.S. high-speed train lines and is stepping up exports of rail technology to Europe and Latin America, a government official said Saturday. Wang gave no details of where China’s railway builders might seek contracts, but systems are planned in California, Florida and Illinois. He said state-owned Chinese companies already are building high-speed lines in Turkey and Venezuela. Full story

In my 2.5 years with Manhattan Associates, I have had varying involvement with the hardware upon which our software is installed and implemented. So far, I believe that the major issues around hardware fall into the categories of procurement, performance and maintenance. Since procurement essentially precedes performance and maintenance, it is only common sense that the poor procurement of hardware can result in downstream performance and maintenance issues. Hardware does not necessarily always equate with servers and data centers when implementing supply chain execution software. With warehouse management systems, for example, it is common to also have some form of picking technology, such as RF guns, voice-picking devices, pick-to-light devices, etc. as well as a variety of material handling equipment. Hardware Procurement On the projects I have managed or worked on so far, below are the common problems I have seen around hardware procurement: Indecisiveness around the overall hardware strategy--do you want to go with an in-house data center or proceed with a hosting solution (outsourced)? Indecisiveness around the type of platform to procure (i.e. OS upon which your application and database will run) Insufficient research and analysis around the true costs of a particular hardware decision in relation to the requirements to support a particular application, or set of applications Lack of knowledge about the operations the hardware is intended to support Insufficient planning around the future hardware requirements and the scalability of the short-term hardware sizing (i.e. memory and disk space capacity, chip set constraints, etc.) Lack of proper hardware expertise being available to participate in the procurement process Poor internal processes for executing hardware decisions Lack of planning considerations around the need to procure hardware and services from overseas sources Full story

An article in the Wall Street Journal back from early December have prompted me to write about India employees within multinational companies, and discuss how the skills and experience of these employees are developed so that they are successful when working across borders. Full story

As 2010 swings into full gear, many of us are in the process of establishing goals for the year, whether privately or as part of procedures put in place by our employers. At the same time, we are looking back at goals for 2009 to assess where we were successful and where we fell short. But stepping back, the ... Full story

This chapter chronicles modern war in Afghanistan as it was up until the time of the book's publication in mid-2001. Mr. Goodson's analysis led him to categorize specific periods of Afghanistan's modern history from the late 1970's through mid-2001 into eight stages, summarized by myself below in simple terms: Stage 1: From Coup de'Etat to Soviet Invasion (1978-1979)--In this phase, the Soviet Union assisted a coup de'etat of the existing Afghan leadership, and when this proved too unstable and uncontrollable from afar, the Soviets used the infighting that arose in rejection of the new, Soviet-backed leaders to launch their invasion, composing of approximately 85,000 soldiers at the start. Stage 2: National Resistance and Soviet Entrenchment (1980-1983)--Mr. Goodson writes, "The second stage of the war was characterized more by pattersn and trends that developed than by discrete events of importance...First, the war itself quickly widened and intensified...Second, a tactical patter emerged that would characterize the next two stages of the war. The mujahideen mounted attacks from the mounts; the Soviets responded with combined arms offensives up the valleys to relieve pressure on the cities and major roads," where they had entrenched themselves. Full story

One of the things that fascinated me most about this city was its express delivery network, a service that I had used quite often to send letters/ packages across town, but paid little attention to as the people behind it seem quite decentralized and rarely cared to say anymore more than “sign here”. Then, a couple years while wondering why so many people seemed to be hanging out near the turnstiles of the metro station, I realized something. That, in addition to handling millions of riders a day, the Shanghai metro system was in fact the backbone for moving Shanghai’s express packages around, and that the people hanging out by the turnstiles were in fact collecting and distributing packages and letters that were moving through the system. Over time, as my eyes adjusted and my time on the metro increased, I began to see that there were more actors in play.  You had runners who would move the packages from the originating office to the metro, to dedicated metro runner who did not more than run packages from the turnstiles to the the train carriages, and then the person who rode the metro all day long making the hand off.    It was a hive of activity that was low costs, and had the potential to move packages across the country! Full story

Back in 2006, I wrote a few posts commenting on China's multiple ports, including the newest project at Yangshan near Shanghai. On my most recent trip to Shanghai earlier this month, I took the opportunity to personally visit Yangshan's Deepwater Port and ask questions about its progress and success, especially in the face of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). I recommend first reading what I wrote in 2006: Previous posts on China's ports One of the concerns early on with Yangshan was whether it would: too directly compete with Shanghai's existing ports, be too far for transport of goods exported from the mainland or goods imported to the mainland, build in too much capacity, contributing to lower utilization across all ports, etc. My personal visit to Yangshan helped to alleviate some of these concerns, but need to be reconsidered in the face of impacts resulting from the GFC. Full story

Anyone who has worked across borders will tell you how difficult it can be to maintain supplier and customer relationships from one end of the supply chain to the other. The resources required to do so are often taken for granted, even in a growing economic environment. But in a recession, these resources become even more constrained as many businesses recoil and dig in for a tough stretch of lower revenues, tighter or non-existent margins, and over-worked staff. As consumers who overspent the past few years restructure their lives and finances, so are the businesses and organizations that benefited from that spending restructuring. Most businesess, depending on their individual situation, will have already reviewed, and made decisions about, how to focus and deploy their supply chain architecture over the next few months and even years based on the sudden changes in the global economy since the incredible downturn experienced just over one year ago. When reviewing supply chain architectures that stretch across borders, there are a variety of measures that businesses, large and small, will take to survive: exit a particular market, or number of markets, entirely re-allocate and re-focus resources from one part of a region to another maintain existing architecture, but at a reduced scale Full story

In June of 2007, upon entering the IT park that Manhattan Associates calls home in Bangalore, I was struck not only by the hustle and bustle of activity and construction but also by the contrast between the clean office and hotel properties and the rough-looking construction workers that built them. Surrounding most of these properties are spaces of dusty, undeveloped and trash-laden lots. But at that time, you could feel that it was simply the momentum of a globalizing IT network and infrastructure outpacing the usual bureaucratic pace of city planning. Having just returned to Bangalore this month, the impression is the same but with significantly more offices and hotels. However, the influx of hotels has made more obvious the fact that the global economy has slowed down dramatically, leading to significantly less business travel than before, and less occupancy rates. After visiting multiple hotels near the office for lunch, my colleagues and I had the sense that the number of lunch guests easily outnumbered the number of guests staying overnight. In one new, 5-star hotel, we heard it was 12 guests against a total of 180 rooms. Full story

My brain needs a recharge this weekend before I can jump back into the ongoing topics I am covering around globalization and the impact the U.S. stimulus will have on supply chains. I am in the middle of getting my head wrapped around implementing a Transportation Management System (TMS) versus a Warehouse Management System (WMS). Because we use a common implementation methodology at Manhattan, most of the key ... Full story