Business process improvement has almost become a "buzzword" - sounds good but what does it mean? What is really accomplished? Many times, companies create volumes of 1-inch thick binders of best practice processes, and yet achieve no bottom line results. Anyone seen these binders collecting dust on the bookshelf? [...]
Why track performance? Not tracking performance would be the same as if you watched a football game and never knew the score - what fun would that be? And why watch at all? Scorecards and metrics are your tool for understanding progress towards your business goals and they provide [...]
Partner with customers: Treat your customers as partners and brainstorm freight savings opportunities that would yield a win-win. There are a myriad of possibilities once you have a common goal. Partner with suppliers: Fierce negotiation isn't going to "win the race". Instead, treat your freight carriers as partners. Share [...]
My finance mentor definitely signifies "profit through people". I learned more from him about how to make a profit in the years we worked together than my BSBA, MBA (in Finance) and all the training classes over the years combined. He took all the complex terminology, confusing formulas and [...]
Businesses should always look for ways to increase cash flow. Here are a few ideas to pursue: It's not what you make; it's what you keep: As obvious as this sounds, it is easy to get caught up in the opposite of what will increase your cash flow - [...]
Prepare, prepare, and prepare: 80% of your success is in preparation. Organize the warehouse, clearly mark areas, label exceptions, complete and review system transactions, etc. Stop / isolate movement: When you begin your physical count, stop all physical and system movements and transactions. This is a critical foundation - [...]
My procurement mentor exemplifies "profit through people" and can achieve more on a golf course in 2 hours than an entire team of Harvard MBA's could achieve in a year. He took all the complex terminology, confusing pricing indicators, economic trends and world events and turned it into a [...]
A few best practices for reducing inventory levels without negatively impacting customer service include the following: Put the "right" people in the "right" jobs - it is amazing how much this one point contributes to success. Managing inventory levels requires a unique skill set - analysis, seeing the bigger [...]
With more and more companies struggling to achieve plan, investor's targets, Wall Street expectations, etc, it appears as though companies are cutting costs (many times, focusing much attention on the "small stuff" such as $100 expense reports etc), asking employees to work longer hours and putting together other triage [...]
Before talking about the keys to achieving VMI (vendor managed inventory) success, the question is: what is VMI? VMI is a process where the supplier places purchase orders for their customers to agreed-upon metrics.
