The current economic environment is extremely stressful and unpleasant for most businesses as they see the demand for their products and services decrease. However, you can also see this is as an opportunity to think in new ways and make much needed changes to vital operations practices that may not have seemed too urgent to address before. Companies can take advantage of this time to position themselves for growth by reviewing their supply chain strategy, structure and processes. In every supply chain, of some complexity, there are opportunities for efficiencies that may not have been explored when the main goal was to increase revenue.

Some ideas include:

• Make sure the network is designed in the lowest cost way to serve customers.
• Check that transportation choices are the most efficient possible for the current network
• Identify that products are sourced from the right facilities to reduce costs and take advantage of transportation options.
• Position Inventory correctly so there is no shortage that impacts customers and excess that effects company profits.
• Run production plants efficiently using all the equipment or tanks available and reducing waste.
• Analyze the Carbon Footprint of the supply chain to reduce costs and prepare for the future.

Optimization technology has advanced in the last 10 years so that easy to use and high performance off-the-shelf planning and scheduling solutions can help companies make the tradeoffs necessary to run a business efficiently while maintaining high levels of customer service. This results in savings that go right to the bottom line.  These solutions are complementary to your ERP investment, much faster to set up and can provide high returns.

Recommended reading:

Thriving in a Recession: Now Is Not the Time For Supply Chain Retreat

Tuesday, April 08, 2008
The AMR Research Value Chain Strategies Team

Tags: AMR Research, carbon footprint optimization, Edith Simchi-Levi, ILOG, Inventory Optimization, Network Design, optimization, planning and scheduling, supply chain efficiency, supply chain planning, supply chain strategies, supply chain technology

Posted by Edith Simchi-Levi in Inventory Optimization, Network Design & Planning, Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling, Supply Chain Optimization, Transportation Planning, green logistics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.