The assigned article presents two best practice scenarios that highlight an innovative division of responsibilities between the company and the supplier. First, the supplier maintains a stock at the customer’s warehouse at his/her own expense. Second, the supplier always keeps a stock ready for the customer in his/her own warehouse, the quantity of which is based on historical data and forecasts.
I’ve had several run-ins with SCM, almost always about the delays of my requests for supplies and materials for my projects’ marketing activities, and sometimes about the accreditation process of my own chosen suppliers of creative services (possibly a topic of another paper). Given the history and the reputation of the department as some sort of “weak link” in the organization (a source of delays/inefficiencies), I am inclined to think that the VP’s “warehouse” strategy could prove to be a step in the right direction, but only if certain conditions (based on the suggestions in the article) are met. These include, among others, healthy and proven company-supplier relationships, a working and readily accessible database of company/supplier transaction information and finally, available and capable staff. The database is of particular importance since stocking, supplying and delivery decisions will rely on how well this information is harnessed in quantitative methods like forecasting.
In my opinion, based on my own experience with this SCM department and their suppliers, I think the things I mentioned above are the ones that the VP must look into first. I believe these are absolutely required before the department can move from our so-called “clerical” model towards the “world-class” SCM model. The roots and goal of the department are clear--from a small team of pu ...