The 2:00 Minute Warning

Last week I attended the Annual Summit held by the YPO’s Manufacturing Excellence Network in Chicago. One of the highlights was a great presentation by recently retired Boeing executive Kory Mathews.

Kory recently retired from his role as the VP of Enterprise Services at Boeing after working there for decades. Prior to his retirement, Kory was tasked with leading Boeing’s Crisis Response team in the wake of the grounding of the 737 MAX in 2019 following two crashes. While dealing with that crisis, his team also had to deal with the impact resulting from the Covid pandemic.

During the presentation, Kory talked about his lessons learned from these high visibility challenges. A lesson at the top of the list: Every organization needs to have a written crisis management plan and periodically “stress test” this plan this to ensure it’s relevant for the current environment.

For example, he noted that Boeing’s traditional crisis response plan relied on “conventional” communication protocol in responding to the crises. As such, they would rely on press releases or press conferences to convey information about the crisis. They soon realized that in today’s world of social media, where information moves in a matter of hours or minutes, taking weeks - or even days - to formulate an update or response to the crisis was too slow.

After his presentation, I asked Kory a follow up question: If developing and stress testing a crisis management plan is so important, wouldn’t these principles apply to important areas such as a company’s supply chain?

When Kory agreed, I asked why relatively few companies have a written crisis management or, for that matter, supply chain management plan. And why do even fewer companies stress test their supply chain or crisis management response? 

His response was direct and simple: Most companies just don’t have the bandwidth (a.k.a. time). Since we all have the same amount of time, he stated that it really boils down to this: It just isn’t a high enough priority item for most companies. 

But he then offered a solution. If it is a priority issue for your company and you don’t have the time, there are plenty of resources or third parties that can help remedy this situation.

Over the past eighteen months, I’ve given several presentations to C-Level executives about why paying attention to supply chains is so important. With everything that’s happening in the supply chain today, can companies continue to  ignore the importance of planning for contingencies or proactively taking steps to protect their supply chains?

If you're dealing with a lack of bandwidth and wondering how to move forward with protecting your supply chain, TranzAct can help. We’re experts at helping companies identify gaps in their supply chains.

Through TranzAct’s Rapid Assessment process, we can bring your team together for the type of planning that can protect your supply chain. With the Rapid Assessment, TranzAct evaluates the current state of your supply chain and where it could be in the future to build on the successes from the past. This is an opportunity to identify options to employ in the time of a crisis.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Rapid Assessment process, get in touch.

BY MIKE REGAN, CO-FOUNDER OF TRANZACT
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