Running Your Supply Chain with Greater Efficiency: Four Keys to Success

Today, for many car owners, it’s way too easy to ignore simple car maintenance. After all, what’s it saving you? A dollar here and a dollar there? And for many of us living in today’s fast-paced world, drivers simply don’t focus on how to drive more efficiently to save on gas – driving more slowly, keeping our cars tuned up, inflating the tires properly, and driving with the windows closed.

In short, getting your car to run efficiently requires investing now to achieve future overall cost savings. But, will the investment result in true economic efficiency? Whether you’re talking cars or supply chains, the answer lies in how all of the “systems” are performing. Generating the maximum desired output for given inputs means using best available technologies, and keeping your systems in road-ready condition.

Like your car before it has been well tuned, it’s probable that your supply chain is also not operating at its highest efficiency right now to maximize performance and deliver the highest possible margin. Your company’s supply chain scenario, like those of many others, might be piled high with products, suppliers, and trading partners that are reducing the effectiveness of its strategy. Even though you and your team are working hard to manage at peak effectiveness, it is likely that the key metrics – on-time delivery, order lead time, and ability to react to consumer trends – tend to slip.

Today, retailers sourcing from low-cost countries need to implement technology to help manage the entire product lifecycle and global supply chain, thus ensuring their continued success. These solutions enable dramatic improvements by enhancing collaboration among various and distinct internal and external groups, standardizing processes and documents, and acting as a central knowledge base to store and share all related data that provides visibility into the supply chain process.