Ride fast to smooth out supply chain bumps

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 11/1/2000

"Ride fast. That's what you need to keep in mind if you're going to be successful in today's business-otherwise you're toast," says keynote Dr. Jim Tompkins, president of Tompkins Associates, comparing the management of supply chains to his mountain biking experience.

Tompkins advice, given at McHugh Software's Logistics Industry Summit, Reaching New Heights, also served as a metaphor for what he and fellow speakers emphasized throughout the conference-you have to ride fast to keep up with the velocity of today's e-business world.

Another keynote, Dr. Charles Fine of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, generally agreed that collaboration across the supply chain is crucial for success in today's fast-paced environment.

"Supply chain design decisions are not primarily about whether it's two cents cheaper or two days faster to outsource compared to in-source. More important is that supply chain design can determine the fate of companies and industries," says Fine.

Fine stated that for a supply chain to successfully compete, all links must learn to run at the speed of the link with the fastest product cycle, or at clockspeed.

"Today, if product differentiation and customer value is determined by some component that runs at a faster clockspeed, then the company that learns to run at that faster clockspeed is clearly going to win," says Fine.

For more information, go to www.mchugh.com .