Who doesn’t recognize it: waiting 8 weeks for a couch made in 2 hours!
That is normal in industry. For our customers the delivery time is 39 days (6 weeks).
Speed
However, to be successful in the future, speed is crucial. CoolBlue has conquered the Dutch white goods market in no time with fast deliveries of washing machines and then they are also installed. Speed and service are highly valued by their customers. Yet this is not really the norm in the industry. Often a lot of time is lost in the supply chain.
Versatility
A rally shows many similarities with an ideal supply chain. Everything revolves around speed and versatility. The driver and the co-pilot are constantly anticipating road and weather conditions. A good model for an effective approach to the supply chain in response to the rapidly changing market conditions.
Organization
Speed in the supply chain also requires a different organization such as in a rally car: no departments but a small team that has the right competencies and is responsible for the output, a simple dashboard with the right meters and emphasis on time instead of costs. It is also important that the systems are properly arranged for speed and that the operational data is exchanged automatically.
Our company is located in the smartest region of the Netherlands on the High Tech Campus. But we do send the purchase orders by mail in this region, the supplier places the order again, sends an order confirmation that is put back into the customer’s system; job creation …
Example
In the construction business, we have recently halved the lead time by using time mapping (time measurement in the supply chain) to tackle waiting times, reduce batches and properly coordinate processes with suppliers. This makes it possible to respond to projects faster and the stock level in the supply chain is halved.
Want to know more? Come to our #supplyexperience https://topinc.nl/supply-events/
Paul van Veen
