SUPPLY CHAIN SERVICE STRATEGY

6 | R i g h t S e r v e ™ girl complements of Disney. That little girl and her parents will remember that act of service for the rest of their lives. Recovery is good service! Design, document and communicate! Unmet expectations are the undercurrent of poor service evaluations and perceptions. It is impossible to meet expectations that are not designed, documented, and communicated. Yet, the large majority of supply chain service expectations are not designed, documented, or communicated. The void is typically filled with the fog of war waged between sales and operations. I ask our clients why they have not designed, documented, or communicated their supply chain service strategy. The typical responses are as follows. “We don’t know how.” “It’s too complicated.” “We’ve never had one before.” Those clichés are code for an underlying lack of tools, education, process discipline, initiative and accountability. My hope is that this book serves as an inspirational guidebook to world-class supply chain service — providing tools, examples, training, and even motivation to design, document, and communicate a supply chain service strategy. Clear, reasonable, and communicated expectations are good service!