Often, when companies talk about “cultural change”, they are referring to changes in the internal culture of their own enterprise; i.e. empowering its employees to make decisions related to problem solving and process improvement, using the formal system in place of its informal systems, or an un-relenting commitment to quality. But, what about the external culture? Continue reading
When you look at standards like IATF 16949 or ISO 9001, the requirements boil down to two essential elements: improving customer satisfaction and reducing risk.
They go hand in hand because effective risk management means safer products and happier customers—and fewer problems for their suppliers. Continue reading
For the last few months, I’ve been giving talks on the trade war between US and China. A few of these talks have been in the US. Others were skyped to China.
The bottom line is that trade between the US and China has been weaponized.
The Wall Street Journal on December 13, 2018 distilled the challenge:
“… it is questionable whether fragile globalized supply chains can thrive at all in an environment where the world’s two largest economies are disinclines to play by the rules, even their own.” Continue reading
Quality should never be seen as an accident. It should be envisioned as an intelligent and proactive effort. Poor quality, unsafe working conditions and or ignoring or non-compliance with regulations will lead to business disruption, financial loss, lawsuits and damage to the brand image of an organization. Continue reading
Automating the supply chain is crucial to the future of the industry, but humans will never be replaced. People have always been and will continue to be the drivers of these processes. Instead of eliminating the human employees, supply chain technology is moving humans from the repetitive data entry and numbers crunching tasks to more intelligent supply chain decision making, enabled by smart data and technology support. Continue reading