Be careful of success
By Ray Kulwiec -- Modern Materials Handling, 7/1/1999
If you or your company have achieved a peak level of successful performance, be careful. You may be starting downhill on the way to failure. That rather startling statement was made by consultant James Tompkins in his keynote address at the Warehouse of the Future event last month.
Jim's point was that in business as in life, a common pattern is a series of up-and-down cycles that may range from success to failure and back to success repeatedly. The national economy, companies, or individuals may hit a peak, but for various reasons may then slide down into a valley before regrouping and moving up to another peak.
The challenge, Tompkins argues, is to find a way to go from peak to peak, and avoid the traditional peak to valley cycles. That challenge is especially difficult in this age of rapid and constant change in marketplace requirements, product life, and competitive pressures. The answer Tompkins suggests is to continually reinvent yourself, or your company--in effect create an ongoing "revolution." And, further, step up and be the leader of the revolution, that harnesses the power of change, overcomes outdated paradigms, and taps the vast resources within your organization.
One way to revolutionize your thinking is to break out of the vision of the four walls of your plant or warehouse, and consider the impact of what you do on your company's total supply chain. Our cover story this month describes how office supplies distributor Daisytek reinvented itself and became a key player in cutting costs and improving efficiencies throughout its supply chain. The story includes the first of a series of "supply chain pioneers" we will be profiling in the months ahead. I hope it will provide food for thought in your own revolution.
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