SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY

E d w a r d H . F r a z e l l e , P h . D . RightChain™ the call. The individual explained that as part of a new service initiative they were being required to radically reduce door-to-door times and wanted my advice on how to go about it. I suggested the typical options of parallel processing, automation, and next-day shipping. The individual shared that they had proposed each one but as a part of a new lean-austerity initiative the company was unwilling to invest the time or money in any of those options. I suggested the obvious, that without the investment in time or money to re-engineer processes, automate, and/or increase transportation costs, they had put themselves between a rock and a hard place. The individual became despondent and started crying. I gently asked a question I already knew the answer to. “What’s wrong?” The individual shared that they had been under that kind of pressure for the past year, and that the last person in their position had only lasted six months. I suggested that no one was meant to stand up under that pressure and that they were unfortunately at the intersection of two mutually exclusive philosophies — higher service at any cost and lower cost at any price. That’s why we say, “Don’t philosophize, optimize.” Since supply chain logistics is replete with complex tradeoffs, optimization, RightChain™’s tradeoff bunker buster, is one of the most critical, yet elusive concepts for | 37