4 Steps to Improving Supply Chain Design Maturity

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supply chain design The supply chain industry is evolving at an unprecedented pace, with rapidly-changing customer expectations, the introduction of disruptive technologies and ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainties worldwide. To survive — and thrive — businesses need to be increasingly agile and responsive to the market around them. And the ability to do that often starts with having a well-designed supply chain. Competent supply chain design is often the secret behind why some organizations thrive and adapt while others underperform and are slow to change. The more mature a company’s supply chain design, the greater value the organization realizes — which equates to lower costs, improved service, reduced risk and greater sustainability. Determining how mature — or not — an organization’s supply chain design competency is can be an extremely complex task. The most effective models analyze issues from multiple perspectives, compare performance against various industry benchmarks, assess the skills of the people on the team and examine the strategy behind supply chain design. Due to the many intricacies, many organizations look to outside partners to help them understand not only their current state of maturity and how it stacks up relative to other organizations, but also how to advance and improve over time to meet and exceed strategic business goals. At its core, however, the process often falls into four distinct steps. Assess Your Current Design Competency Maturity To get the supply chain design to where it needs to be, it’s critical to first understand where it stands at present. Current supply chain design should be assessed across four main areas and basic consideration questions: People: Is the right skillset, and are the right roles in place in the organization? Process: Are repeatable, scalable, and agile-paced processes established? Is design a core part of company’s decision-making processes? Technology: […]