Abstract
The past three years of disruption is a great time for reflection on what works and what does not in traditional supply chain thinking. This is the goal of this report by Lora Cecere, Founder of Supply Chain Insights. In Lora’s quantitative research from 2022 followed by qualitative interviews in 2023, she finds that current processes are supply-centric and focused on an enterprise response. Traditional planning processes assume that history is a good predictor of demand and that transportation would always be available. Both of these assumptions were challenged in this period, resulting in the turning-off of many companies’ optimization planning systems. In addition, over the last decade, organizational alignment issues have grown, making it more difficult for organizations to make decisions. To prepare for future disruptions, companies need to focus on reducing process latency, using market signals, and improving organizational alignment by clearly defining supply chain excellence based on a balanced scorecard.
