The 2:00 Minute Warning

How important is your supply chain?

I ask this because over the last twenty months I have been running around the country giving a supply chain presentation to more than two thousand executives. My message to these executives – a majority of whom are C - Level executives, is simple and direct: If the adage is true that “Companies don’t compete. Supply Chains Compete,” how competitive is your supply chain?

Since the competitiveness of your supply chain will have a direct bearing on the success/failure of your company’s profitability, at the beginning of the presentation I raise three points.

First, I ask people to stand up if they agree with this statement that: “Having a good supply chain is important to the success of my company.” Everybody – and I do mean everybody in the audience stands up. I then say to sit down if they really didn’t believe that statement but were just standing to be nice. Everyone stays standing.

Second, while they are standing, I ask them to rank their supply chain on a five point scale with five representing a “World Class” supply chain, three representing average, and one representing a struggling supply chain. I then tell them they can stay standing if they ranked their supply chain as being better than a three, or at least a little bit better than average. About 80 to 85% of the audience - you read that right - takes a seat when posed with that challenge.

Initially, I thought that this might be an anomaly. But twenty plus presentations later, I see a different picture. Despite everyone saying that having a good supply chain is extremely important, relatively few people rank their supply chains as being average or better.

That leads to some uncomfortable observations. For starters, if your company doesn’t have a written supply chain plan, then you’re kidding yourself. Be honest! Absent a plan and resources to implement the plan, there really is no commitment to having a great, or at least better-than-average supply chain.

If your company is not committed to having a great supply chain then consider this question: “Is it ok for my company to have an average or mediocre supply chain?”

The “good news” answer to that question is “Yes” - as long as the rest of your competitors have a mediocre or average supply chain. The “bad news” answer is that if one of your competitors gets serious and builds a better supply chain than yours, you could be in big trouble – and not even know it!

Here's the most important question of the presentation: “Instead of letting your competitors win with their supply chain capabilities, why not turn the tables and beat your competitors with your superior supply chain capabilities?”

If that is a challenge you’re willing to accept then I have great news: TranzAct can help you get there! We have a ton of experience and expertise in helping companies use their supply chain capabilities as a competitive asset. It all begins with the creation of a plan, backed up by great data and the experience and expertise to help your team build a great supply chain.

If your company would like to have a dialogue about building a better supply chain  we encourage you to get in touch.  And if you're interested in learning more about the presentation, let's connect on Calendly. As we like to remind folks, the dialogue won’t cost a dime but it may be worth a lot of money to your company.

BY MIKE REGAN, CO-FOUNDER OF TRANZACT
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