CEO's are Linked to Their Supply Chains

CEO's are linking strategically into their supply chains. Their supply chain is the best place to make the most of CEO effectiveness in product needs, real savings opportunities, ultimate customer satisfaction and therefore shareholder value. New technologies, changes in asset provider capacities, transportation management options and difficulty in organizations overcoming paradigms are making the CEO's involvement in their supply chain success critical.

The supply chain is the movement of raw materials and finished products, impacting purchasing practices, manufacturing efficiencies, inventory carrying costs, departmental optimization, product value differentiation, business growth and ultimately marketplace viability. Most businesses underestimate the true costs, much less opportunities of their supply chain.

CEO's who rely on the silo functionality of their managers often do not see the sub optimization of internal departments. Competition for scarce resources, missed opportunities in controlling costs, dynamic process efficiencies available in the supply chain, new value add technologies, leveraging greater buying power, impact of old relationships with inefficient transportation providers, passing on higher costs with declining deliverable values, are just a few issues where the vision of the CEO is needed. Instead of managing the supply chain as a departmental function, real savings and value await those who incorporate leading edge processes across all departmental functions to optimize spend, value, growth and profitability.

New transportation management companies are emerging with business models that address supply chain efficiencies on contingency basis. Loaded with leading edge technology, dedicated account management teams to monitor deliverable values and unparalleled ability to leverage spend savings, these new transportation management companies are growing at triple digit percentages. Unfortunately, either past experiences with unfocused providers or relying on single departmental management has limited companies from increasing sales and improving their bottom lines with their supply chain.

Purchasing managers and logistics managers are unable to leverage savings beyond current company scale nor able to engineer or afford the technology for real time supply chain visibility on their own. The silos of functionality in business are often good at meeting their metrics but unable to create new approaches to incorporating supply chain opportunities across all departments. Only the leadership of the CEO can create the vision of engaging new resources and technologies that can improve the entire organization's deliverable results.

The complexity of transportation provider choices, varying market reach and multiple customer needs, call for a new approach in using a focused transportation management company to optimize the value of their unique supply chain. To only require the best providers with the lowest prices set up purchasing and logistics departments to bid, renegotiate or partnership for the best of a mediocre bunch of commodity providers, leaving value and money on the table.
Without losing control of day to day provider selection, smart companies are outsourcing the negotiations to a new class of transportation management company that can guarantee spend savings, superior transit deliverables, real time visibility of supply chain across all department functions and provide dedicated account management teams accountable to unique departmental needs. Not engaging your potential leaves the company vulnerable to competitors who recognize the supply chain can be leveraged to add value, grow business and improve net profits.

The clear trend in supply chain management is this new breed of focused providers who can leverage greater spend savings, develop customized, scalable real time technologies across all functions and add dedicated account teams to manage the transportation providers. Portfolios loaded mid and large size corporations, with best practices and industry specific case studies, these transportation management companies can cut through the jargon of supply chain applications and deliver measurable results. The CEO must create the vision of new possibilities, facilitating his teams to achieve greater savings & value, with more control over their supply chain, real deliverable results for employee job security and shareholder value.

Old asset players in transportation are either one dimensional in capability or try to leverage the illusion of value with their own spin on limited capabilities and risk adverse thinking. The emerging transportation management companies are lean, bureaucracy free, accountable to you and at no cost as they contingency based. Despite what asset transportation providers present in poor yields, inflated fuel costs, labor and health care concerns (like manufacturers/distributors do not have the same challenges?), the right transportation management company can still create guaranteed savings of at least 10% of current spend, bring value add technology for supply chain visibility as well as dedicated 24/7 account service teams to inspired manufacturers/distributors.

The complexity of asset transportation provider systems, varying costs by product/lane, limited technology and no doubt unsatisfactory past experiences, have stymied manufacturers/distributors on how to proceed in maximizing supply chain efficiencies. Only this new class of transportation management companies is capable of delivering the right provider solution, for each link of your supply chain, for the best available value & cost, with total visibility and accountability.

While there are many opportunities and duties for today's CEO, no other area of their business will bring the greatest value return for their time investment than their supply chain. Reaching out to these unique, no cost, and no risk, transportation management providers will certainly be worth their time as employees, customers and shareholders will no doubt agree.

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Why Is Efficient Supply Chain Management Important in a Growing Company?

A supply chain is an efficient process that ensures a company has all the supplies or materials that it needs to produce products especially in a manufacturing company. A growing company needs to have an efficient supply chain management to ensure its success and there are many firms that specialize in these services. What makes this process very important especially for small to medium scale companies is that it is practical to use and very easy to apply in most types of industries. Here are more reasons why you should consider supply chain management services to boost your growing company:

• Never miss a deadline - with an efficient supply chain management system, you will be able to manage deadlines easily. Every raw material, equipment and tools needed to create products are handled efficiently with this system and these results in uninterrupted production with products reaching customers at the provided time frame. You can even handle as many orders as you can when the demand for your products increase; a supply chain management system will be able to deal with any huge demands of production in any kind of industry.

• Maintain great relationship with your suppliers - a management system will help managers and supervisors choose the ideal supplier of raw materials, equipment and all the needs of production. And as you constantly order materials, you will be able to improve your relationship with your suppliers in the long run.

• Always have the best prices for your materials - good relationship with your suppliers opens doors for the best prices and offers for materials needed for production, prioritization of your orders, increased trust in your company and of course a lot of savings on your part. You may opt to deal directly with suppliers and this significantly reduces prices of your orders and the time for your orders to get processed.

• Connect with all departments using the supply system - when you use an efficient supply chain management system you will be able to connect all the areas of your company that is related to and may affect supply and demand. With this, you can process orders easier and faster, increase your productivity and improve efficiency in the company.

• Reduce cost of production - definitely a single supply chain management system is equivalent to three or more employees doing the same work. You can significantly reduce the cost of production with the money saved used in other aspects of your business like product research, marketing and in advertising. You do not need to hire more employees either since this system will run for as long as you continue to give orders.

A supply chain management system is flexible and may also be programmed to work with different kinds of companies and industries and will also work with any kind of product or services. This kind of system works for small to medium scale businesses or may be expanded to work with large companies locally or for international businesses.

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Evaluating the KPI's With the Supply Chain Ratios

You may see that your supply chain KPI's are working well for you but it is only a matter of time that they fail. This is because change is constant in the business world and you will immediately find yourself lost in the various changes that have been happening in the industry. This is why you need to evaluate and monitor your KPI's just as you check your sales and the quality of your products or services. You can do this by means of the supply chain ratios.

Key performance indicators are now viewed as one of the most valuable management tools that are available today. Many business owners are aware of how to use them to their advantage but this should not be the end of things. There is a constant need to appraise your KPI system in order for you to stay on track and remain competitive. With numerous rivals competing against you and your company, you should always stay alert and focus on important things that will help you in making correct decisions for your firm. This means that you will have to gather voluminous data just so you can stay on top of your game. This may be important but you can make this simpler by means of the supply chain system that contains the KPI's.

The system will contain concise statements that are helpful in assisting you make intelligible choices. What you will need to include in your KPI's are those essential factors that will help you achieve your goal for your company. These may include improving sales, customer relations, employee efficiency, productivity, quality of products, timeliness and other aspects. It is important that you are able to maintain the right level of satisfaction rates in these components. This is what your KPI will have to measure. Generally, they will come as supply chain ratios or percentages so that you will be able to understand the results clearer.

You will also need to impart the information or data that you have gathered to the managers as well as with the employees so that they will be able to grasp the whole meaning of using the key performance indicators. In this case, it is once again advised that you make use of supply chain ratios so that it would be simpler and easier to comprehend. You need to bear in mind though that when using KPI's in ratio form, this will mean that you will lose some relevant data particularly if you make use of the ratio combination's. For instance, you want to combine the time of delivery to the order value.

This denotes that you will receive the index regarding how efficient your company has delivered the goods to your customers. However, this supply chain ratio will decrease customer satisfaction because of its smoothing effect on lengthy delivery times for low value products. In this case, you will need to interpret the relationship between the natures of the supply chain ratios so that you can perform necessary actions so that you can align your KPI's with your corporate goal successfully.

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Managing the Supply Chain - Supplier Risk Management Basics

In managing any business it is important to take into account risks or potential risks with suppliers. This is a facet of the management system that is sometimes overlooked. If critical suppliers are not able to deliver the goods or services you need to operate your business, you could lose customers. An important facet of planning for the customer includes supplier risk management. Specifically, supplier risk assessment should include factors like:

1. Financial stability of the supplier: In order to assess financial stability several key questions should be answered. These include: 1) Is the supplier generally stable and profitable or headed for possible bankruptcy; 2) Do they have a history of not paying their suppliers which could affect the ability to provide you with the necessary goods or services; 3) Do they have a heavy debt load and very low profit margin? As you look at this factor, there may be more questions that you identify as important to your situation. In any case, begin with attempting to assess financial stability of your key suppliers.

2. Transportation: Consider factors like modes of transportation, alternate providers, alternate routes, natural disasters or weather related issues. Of course, transportation costs, delivery schedules and protection of goods during transit must also be considered.

3. Regulatory issues and compliance. Discussions with your critical suppliers should involve any known or pending notices of violations and/or fines as these could affect a company's ability to meet your needs. Significant regulatory concerns could lead to a supplier being shut down or facing heavy fines that could impede their ability to supply.

4. Labor stability: Factors like union contracts, legal status of workers, availability of workers and even succession planning could affect a small or large company's ability to supply your business.
While there can be much more detail involved in risk management, these factors should be considered at a minimum. After risks have been assessed and a determination made concerning the ability to meet your needs, then you are ready to take the next steps for insuring the quality of incoming materials or services.

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Building Relationships Through Supply Chain Management

One of the critical key success factor in determining the effectiveness of a Supply Chain Management is the approach of negotiation between the buyer and suppliers. The concept of squeezing the suppliers in order to gain a desired outcome can back fire the buyer in the long run. The concept of forcing the suppliers to reduce price is a win-lose relationship in the short term. It can also be a lose-lose relationship if the buyer still uses the same method over a long period of time with the same suppliers. This is because the buyer will lose its competitive edge due to the inferior product delivered by its suppliers and the supplier also will lose due to the decreasing profit margin. In delivering goods or services, each parties involved must learn to negotiate with a win-win attitude.

By instilling this positive behaviour, the trust between the supplier's networks will grow and therefore the relationship will mature to a strategic partnership. The win-win thinking does not just focus on quality and cost alone, but also to future collaboration. A win-win relationship also fosters good working environment for both parties as both will benefit in the process.

At the initial stage of any relationship, there tend to be a relationship that has minimal or no trust at all. Vital information such as finance information is kept within the companies and is not shared among its partners. The circulation of information is very limited and therefore hampers the formation of a network among the suppliers. In order to create a successful network of suppliers, the vital information such as financial data and product data must be on an open based communication.

Open communication instil trust amongst the suppliers and therefore creates the tendency of suppliers more added value than it is required. By opening up communication also allows problems to be noticed as quickly as possible and countermeasures can be taken immediately. Other advantage of open communication is that innovation and creative ideas can be brought more easily into the supply chain by both sides of the parties involved.

How supply chain management benefits and how it will help your business productivities? Talk to Alenu IT Solutions today!

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Supply Chain Risk Management: An Introduction

Risk management concepts have been around for several years, but they have generally been bounded to the financial area. Today, according to common experience and evidences, the supply chain is where risk management is assuming a critical role, since it is where risk becomes most damaging for a company: in fact, the last decades have been characterized by several events (i.e. earthquake in Kobe in 1995, terrorist attack to WTC in 2001, SARS in 2002-2003) that have disrupted supply chain operations repeatedly (Tang, 2006).

One of the main factors that contributed to disruptions is the lean attitude (lean production or lean manufacturing) that took a relevant role in academia and industry during the 90s, pulling the demand for streamlined manufacturing systems with expected zero-inventory and just-in-time movement of goods. In current volatile era, with businesses and, more specifically, supply chains becoming increasingly global, the industrial environment is heavily affected by uncertainty, which can potentially turn out into unexpected disruptions.

According to a study funded in 2006 by Accenture Consulting, three out of four top supply chain executives at major U.S. enterprises say they have had a disruption in the past five years from which it took at least a week - and sometimes several months - to recover, and the risks are increasing.
Moreover, as the results of a survey conducted on 1150 companies in UK show (Woodman, 2006), CEO's and top managers are nowadays getting aware that potentially disruptive events have to be explicitly identified, properly prevented and effectively offset.

In contrast, supply chain managers have so far kept their efforts on efficiency gains, aiming at reducing cost at the expense of an increased risk of disruptions. A study from Forrester Research carried out in 2002 reports that almost 90% of a sample of senior supply chain executives indicated, as their top supply chain priority, the need of improving operational efficiency; only the remaining 10% were more sensitive to flexibility and robustness (Hendricks et al. 2005).

In this context, some concepts have emerged as decisive for the competitive management of modern supply chains: these are declined in literature as operational risk (NSW, 2005 and BCI, 2005), enterprise risk management (Hallikas et al., 2004; Chapman, 2006), business continuity (Christopher, 2003; Sheffi, 2005; BCI, 2005) and business vulnerability (Christopher, 2003).

Hence, I provide some basic definitions that could help in entering this somewhat new world:

- Risk Management: as defined by the ISO IEC Guide (ISO, 2002), it is a set of coordinated activities to direct and control an organization with regard to risk. In other words, a process by which a company tries to ensure that the risks to which it is voluntarily exposed are those ones it is eventually willing to tackle during the course of its routinary activities.

- Enterprise Risk Management (ERM): is defined as a rigorous and coordinated approach to assessing and responding to all risks that affect the achievement of strategic and financial objectives of an enterprise (Miccolis, 2001).

- Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM): can be defined as the systematic identification and assessment of potential supply chain disruptions with the objective to control exposure to risk or reduce its negative impact on supply chain performance. Management of risk includes the development of continuous strategies designed to control, mitigate, reduce, or eliminate risk.

- Business Continuity Management (BCM): as defined by the Business Continuity Institute, BCM is "an holistic management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an organisation and provides a framework for building resilience and the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities" (BCI, 2005).

- Business Vulnerability: supply chain vulnerability is defined as an exposure to serious disturbances, arising from risks within the supply chain as well as risks external to the supply chain (Christopher, 2003). In other words, vulnerability is a result of any weakness within a complex system that can seriously jeopardize its activities (Ayyub, 2003). Vulnerability strictly relates to business continuity planning (and, hence, to risk) through the concept of vulnerability management.

- Resilient enterprise: the concept of resilience is related to the ability of the company to recover quickly from a disruption (Sheffi, 2005). That is, a resilient enterprise is built upon business continuity, which in turn relies on (enterprise) risk management and vulnerability management.
All these concepts have gained attention during the last decade and, very likely, will assume even greater attention in the future.
References

1. Ayyub, B.M. , 2003, "Risk Analysis in Engineering and Economics", Chapman & Hall/CRC, Florida - ISBN 1-58488-395-2
2. (The) Business Continuity Institute (BCI), 2005, "Good Practice Guidelines 2005 - A Framework for Business Continuity Management"
3. Chapman, R.J., 2006, "Simple Tools and Techniques for Enterprise Risk Management", John Wiley & Sons. England, ISBN 978-0-470-01466-0
4. Christopher, M., 2003, "Creating Resilient Supply Chains: a Practical Guide", Cranfield University School of Management. ISBN 1-861941-02-1
5. Hendricks, K.and V.R. Singhal, 2005, "The Effect of Supply Chain Disruptions on Long-term Shareholder Value, Profitability, and Share Price Volatility"
6. ISO: International Organization for Standardization, 2002, "ISO/IEC Guide 73 - Risk management - Vocabulary - Guidelines for use in standards"
7. Miccolis, J.A., Hively, K. and B.W. Merkley, (2001), "Enterprise risk management: trends and emerging practices", The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foudation - Altamonte Springs, Florida
8. NSW Small Business, 2005, "Risk management guide for small business", Department of State and Regional Development - ISBN 0-7313-32490
9. Sheffi, Y., 2005, "The Resilient Enterprise. Overcoming Vulnerability for Competitive Advantage", The MIT-Press, Boston - MA
10. Tang, C., S., 2006, "Perspective in supply chain risk management", International Journal of Production Economics, 103, 451-488
11. Woodman, P., 2006, "Business Continuity Management (May 2006)", ISBN: 0-85946-445-8.

Want to know supply chain management benefits and how it will help your business efficiency? Talk to Alenu IT Solutions today!

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Intern - Warehouse Penske Truck Leasing - Pontiac, MI, US

Intern - Warehouse( Job Number: 1507091) 

Description Position Summary: Penske Logistics is looking for warehouse associates to become part of an excellent team. This is a great opportunity for individuals who are safety conscious and have a pleasant, outgoing attitude who want to excel in a warehouse environment. 
Shift: 2nd Shift Monday-Friday with some weekends required. Major Responsibilities: Job requirements may include the following where applicable: -Accurately match numbers letters -Accurately stage and sort products for loading -Loads and unloads trailers -Opens and closes dock doors -Maintain a clean and safe work area -Sorts and places parts in racks or other designated areas -Pulling of manual dock chain -Stacks cardboard boxes and pallets -Move materials within the warehouse -Complies with all safety requirements -Package or kit finished product for shipping (shrink wrapping, boxing, labeling) 

-Electronically scan products using a warehouse management system -Quality control -Ensure damaged products are identified and removed when received -Complete daily logs -Communicate with associates from other shifts -Attach identifying tags to containers, or mark them with identifying information -Read work orders or receive oral instructions to determine work assignments and material and equipment needs -Record numbers of units handled and moved, using daily production sheets or work tickets -Assemble product containers and crates, using hand tools and precut lumber -Pack containers and re-pack damaged containers -Reads production schedule, customer order, work order, shipping order, or requisition to determine items to be moved, gathered, or distributed -Sorts and stores perishable goods in refrigerated rooms -Fills requisitions, work orders, or requests for materials, tools, or other stock items and distributes items to production workers or assembly line -Assembles customer orders from stock and places orders on pallets or shelves, or conveys orders to packing station or shipping department -Weighs or counts items for distribution within plant to ensure conformance to company standards -Uses computer to enter records -Prepares parcels for mailing -Maintains inventory records -Operate forklifts, pallet jacks and a variety of warehouse mechanical equipment (where applicable) -Operate forklifts or pallet jacks to transport stored items from warehouse to plant or to pick up items from several locations for shipment (where applicable) -Other projects and tasks as assigned by supervisor 

Qualifications -At least 1 year of warehousing or material-handling (using hand/power tools and hand truck) equipment experience required -High school diploma or equivalent preferred -Proficient reading skills and ability to follow directions required -Ability to work independently, customer service, dealing with others, multi-tasking skills, organizational skills, flexibile, excellent with numbers and time management skills required -Basic computer skills including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook required (where applicable by location) -Flexible to work overtime preferred -Ability to work in non-climate controlled conditions required -Willingness to work the required schedule, work at the specific location required, complete Penske employment application, submit to a background investigation (to include past employment, education, and criminal history) and drug screening -The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an associate to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The associate must regularly lift and /or move up to 25lbs/12kg, frequently lift and/or move up to 50lbs/23kg and occasionally lift and/or move up to 100lbs/45kg. Specific vision abilities required by this job include Close vision, Distance vision, Peripheral vision, Depth perception and Ability to adjust focus. While performing the duties of this Job, the associate is regularly required to stand; walk; sit and talk or hear. The associate is frequently required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel and reach with hands and arms. Headquartered in Reading, Pa., Penske Logistics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Penske Truck Leasing. With operations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, Penske Logistics provides supply chain management and logistics services to leading companies throughout the world. Penske Logistics delivers value through design, planning and execution in transportation, warehousing, international freight forwarding and carrier management. Visit www.PenskeLogistics.com to learn more. Penske is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans. 

Work Locations : 60 Baldwin Pontiac, MI 48342 Primary Location : United States-Michigan-Pontiac Job : Warehouse Penske (Oracle) Job Name: PL.Warehouse Worker