Supply Chain Optimization

"It is now possible to pull products and services in direct response to what has been consumed."

"The modern consumer consistently demands more for less."

"Only in an atmosphere of cooperation will the greatest savings accrue to the network."

"We are proposing the development of the latest evolution of just-in-time delivery."

"Parties must have an ingredient to bind them in a mutual effort that leads to the kind of optimization we now know can be achieved. That ingredient is partnering."

"The crux of this model is that its execution requires a change, from thinking of the system as one that is driven by the management to thinking of it as functioning in response to the ultimate consumer."

"The traditional push system is converted into a pull system based on actual demand."

"In essence, the upstream facilities shift their emphasis from manufacturing for stock to producing for replenishment."

"Parties to the relationship have found the maximum value from participating in the supply chain rather than following the traditional approach of concentrating on what happens at only a few links in the chain."

"Effective process redesign in any true partnering alliance must turn on the list of customer needs."

"A perception of satisfaction is attained by talking to key customers, particularly those with a reputation for being the most difficult to serve."

"By working with others, the smart firm gets a laboratory in which new ideas can be tested and critiqued before facing actual market conditions."

"No matter where a product is created, a means of getting it to market must exist."

"Once people are relieved of mindless tasks that were designed in another era and that add little or no customer value, they use that freedom to make the right decisions to satisfy the customer."

"By starting on the inside, firms bring existing operations to the best level that can be achieved with current technology and equipment, or with a careful redeployment of people, equipment, and selected new investments."

"Most companies find a small number of sources that together make a major impact on the cost of goods purchased and the needs of the firm in producing their own products."

"The real purpose of customer partnering is to find, as closely as possible, the best way to meet current market needs."

"Each network is unique and requires the development of solutions that meet its specific needs."

"A better way of handling logistics needs is to seek the savings potential in concert, using the combined resources of all the parties in a supply network."

"To find advanced methods, firms have gone outside the box that normally defines logistics and transportation to focus their delivery methodology on using transportation as a competitive tool."

"Firms are questioning why they must try to develop leading-edge practices in every area when some areas are better left to organizations with specialized capabilities."

"Firms operating the global and niche supply chains of the future must build a virtual network."

"Optimized performance in a supply chain network can be realized."