Has there ever been a more challenging time for operations executives? The cost of transporting products and materials is sky high, raw material prices are likewise through the roof, and global sourcing, while providing many advantages, also creates logistical and quality control nightmares. So it is comforting to read The Mechanics of Business Efficiency, a short and to-the-point view of operations written by longtime executives in the game. Although it was published last summer before soaring gas prices, you get the feeling that these graybeards have seen it all and any problem is surmountable.
Subjects covered here include logistics leadership strategies, lessons learned from semiconductor supply chain management, the strengths and vision needed to become a leader in logistics and business development, and current and future problems facing operations execs.
One challenge seen by John C. Turner Jr., an operations senior vice president for Dal-Tile, is the ongoing transition of logistics experts from specialists to generalists. He writes, “Logistics has historically been very siloed; there are areas of distribution specialists, transportation specialists, system specialists, and planners and forecasters. It is difficult to find generalists .... One of the big challenges is figuring out how to train people to be able to do that while continuing to develop your own people.”
While “embrace change” is a repeated theme here, Scott T. Brinks, Chief Logistics Officer for GeoLogistics Americas, believes we sometimes focus too much on change and not enough on what got us here. He writes, “One of the primary things companies need to do to be successful is to continuously refocus on the fundamentals: Know your customer, provide service quality excellence, and manage the order cycle (both for the customer and cash). Business has allowed itself to get too complex, and complexity is sometimes subtle.” Another issue: a lack of drivers. Not only is the business about to cycle into a driver shortage, but regulations are keeping more and more of them off the road, he says.
This title is part of publisher Aspatore's “Inside the Minds” series, which uses C-level executives to write on a variety of topics covering many functions across a wide range of industries. In addition to Dal-Tile and GeoLogistics, the book's authors come from Applebee's International, LAM Research, CACI International, and Pioneer Hi-Bred International.
- Sean Silverthorne