Real Time 2.0 and the end of silos

By Gary Forger, Editorial Director -- Modern Materials Handling, 9/1/2006

This summer I had a chance to hear Mike Gray of Dell speak at the HighJump users conference. Early on, Mike asked how many people in the good-sized audience worked in the supply chain.

Exactly one person raised a hand. Even Mike seemed taken aback. After all, the room was full of current or potential users of HighJump's supply chain execution software. Furthermore, Mike's title at Dell is Supply Chain Evangelist. You had to wonder if Mike was thinking he had walked into the wrong room.

In fact, he was in the right place. People were from warehousing and manufacturing operations, IT and logistics. They just didn't think of those functions as part of the supply chain until the evangelist went to work on them.

Afterwards, I asked Mike if he thought people were so focused on their specific function within the supply chain that they didn't think of the bigger picture. He agreed. And this wasn't the first time he had seen this happen.

In fact, I've had the same thought for some time. And if you're one of those people, it's time to get the bigger picture. Fortunately, this special issue on the real-time supply chain will help you get there.

As will be readily apparent, real time is breaking down silos within the supply chain. Each activity becomes so interconnected with others in the next department or even another location when real-time information is used. The result is it's impossible to wall yourself off from what's happening elsewhere.

Not that you've been trying to operate in a silo. That's just been the net result of how so many have been operating for so long. And even if you have been using wireless terminals interconnected with execution and planning systems linked across departments, buildings and companies, that is going to change. Yes, those systems are real time. But they are Real Time 1.0. What editors-at-large Bob Trebilcock and Roberto Michel are describing in this issue is Real Time 2.0.

Clearly, it's a whole new world. New information system tools. New levels of integration. New responsiveness. New ways of operating. If along the way you wonder why you do supply chain in the first place, just turn to the last page in this issue. Mike Gray has some thoughts on that, too. As you might expect, it's all about saving cash. Everything else in this real-time issue is a tool to help you do just that.