Collecting lots of data isn’t enough to improve service levels. A successful manager tracks relevant metric trends and puts the information into action. One of the keys to success for any business is to watch metrics trends. In my experience, if a client watches key trends, they tend to [...]
Complexity abounds in manufacturing management; can you rise to the challenge? Complexity abounds! Supply chains are extended. Risks must be mitigated. Rules and regulations are increasing. Talent is in short supply. 95% of business is outside the U.S. yet expanding internationally brings challenges and complexity. Customers are demanding more [...]
Warehousing is often overlooked for its simplicity, but it’s one of the strongest links in your supply chain. Warehousing is an often-overlooked area of the business. We store and ship. How hard can it be? Well, there are plenty of ways to dramatically improve your warehousing service and efficiency. [...]
You can't give attention to work priorities to grow a more profitable business if you aren't collecting data, measuring variables and tracking trends. I refer to one of my core service lines as "Eagle Eye" since I've found that selecting the right priorities to work on is half the [...]
Build successful teams that are cohesive and self-improving. It's rare for significant results to be achieved by individuals in today's economy; teams have substantially greater success. What do good ones have in common? One clear purpose - Typically, a team has one purpose since it's formed specifically for that [...]
Published in "Project Times" website, March, 2011 Click here for original article. After stagnating during the recession, executives are anxious to find ways to take advantage of the recovery to drive bottom line results and surpass the competition. However, there are typically no obvious or easy answers. Thus, it [...]
Published in "Project Times" website, August, 2012 Click here for original article. Is accountability a key component to project management? Only if you want to succeed! I often make the mistake of assuming that project leaders and team members understand the critical value of accountability (as I believe it [...]
Successful project management needs to start with an objective, get the right team in place and aggressively anticipate and manage roadblocks. Published in "Project Times" website, September, 2012 Click here for original article. Do you sit in project meetings? How about develop project plans? Report out to executives or [...]
Navigating culture change is a requirement for success. Published in "Project Times" website, March, 2013 Click here for original article. In my 20+ years of experience as an operations executive, a global supply chain consultant and a non-profit trade association leader, I’ve found navigating culture change is a requirement [...]
Published in "The ACA Group" website, November, 2010 Polling my clients and contacts, I've found there's no exception to the rule that customer loyalty is no longer a nice-to-have; instead, it must be an assumption in today's "new normal" business environment. A perfect storm is brewing - just as [...]
