Doctor's Note (June): Unique Opportunities in a Downturn

We all assume higher productivity is better. So if a company is making a product for $100 and now starts producing it for $50, should the CEO get a bonus?

Doctor's Note (May): Modern Business Intelligence

In the last note, I mentioned that the Microsoft platform provides the better tools for BI. I was asked to expand on that. First of all, there is no concise definition of BI. The Wikipedia definition does not help because it is so broad that it includes everything. Almost everyone will agree that a huge component of BI is the process of bringing the required data to the point of decision making.

Doctor's Note (April): SAP Upgrade Woes

SAP announced its latest upgrade in February (SAP® Business Suite 7 software) to coincide with the global credit crunch. As always, the sales representatives and assorted consultants are buzzing like bees around a honey pot to get a piece of the pie, promising painless upgrades, lower costs, and increased competitiveness through functional innovations. The stick is that maintenance costs will increase if a company does not upgrade its SAP installation.

Doctor's Note (March): Supply Chain Makes a Difference in Hospitals Too

Hospitals in the US have many objectives, but rarely do they have a clearly defined mission . . .

Bypass surgery costs between $35,000 and $50,000 in the US. The same surgery costs about $4,000 in India. Given that President Obama is launching a national initiative to provide better health care, it makes sense to see how other countries can deliver quality care at a fraction of the costs. It might surprise many people that much of the cost differential cannot be explained by personnel costs alone. It is also tied to how the hospitals operate their supply chains.

Doctor's Note (February): Growing a Green Supply Chain

Protecting the environment has become a priority for many organizations, both in the private and public sectors. As with any new initiative it is difficult to isolate the wheat from the chaff. In fact, I'm amazed at the number of green consultants that have hit the streets. One thing is for certain: the efforts to reduce green house gas (GHG) emissions are not something that will go away any time soon. In fact, the current US administration's goal is to reduce GHG emissions 80% by 2050.

Doctor's Note (January): Top 3 things you can do in 2009 which cost little or no money

There is no doubt that 2009 is going to be a tough year. With companies struggling to survive, supply chain initiatives will be focused on cost reduction and conserving cash. So what should a company do in 2009?

Don’t get me wrong, I love my friends in Purchasing. We absolutely could not run our businesses without them.

Americans pride themselves on their ‘Yankee ingenuity”, the ability to ‘get ‘er done’, and the McGiver skills to save the world, or at least ourselves, with a paper clip, a BIC lighter and s

Here are the 3V’s for better business results:
- Visibility
- Velocity
- Variability

Let's look at the impact of error on the supply chain. I'm going to organize my thoughts around two key points --


1. An organization must be relentless in its rigor for removing error from the transaction systems, especially the order-to-cash workstream.