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Logistics:

1: the aspect of science dealing with the procurement, maintenance, and transportation of matériel, facilities, and personnel

2: the handling of the details of an operation

In today’s business world, logistics management is that part of the supply chain which plans, implements and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customer & legal requirements.

Lean Supply Chain Management Overview

There are any number of “buzz words” or “flavor of the day” programs that get tossed around as the one that will improve your business. In truth, it’s a combination of many programs and many systems, all of which are only as good as the process used to develop and implement them and, the most important factor of all, your commitment to support change!

Some of the more popular programs being sold today are Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing, or a combination called Lean Six Sigma. The Theory of Constraints is also seeing resurgence in popularity, along with Total Quality Control, Total Quality Management, and Statistical Process Control. All of these programs can be effective and provide excellent results if used correctly.

Let’s focus on the more recent ones:
In its simplest, most basic form, the concept of Six Sigma is to reduce variation in any process application and the concept of Lean is to remove waste and improve flow in any process application, whether in Manufacturing or the Service Industry. Six Sigma relies heavily on data collection and statistical analysis and control of variation. Lean looks more at process flow and time/waste reduction. Both stress the critical nature of always keeping your customer in mind while decreasing business costs.

Contrary to the over-simplified explanation above, both are excellent tools and both have, in fact, been around for years. Henry Ford is actually credited as being the “Father of Lean” and, as we all know, developed the use of assembly lines and time and motion studies to remove waste from the auto manufacturing process.

Some who are unfamiliar with the above mentioned processes are surprised to discover that many of these programs were taken from the United States after WW II and used in Japan as part of the re-building process of their country. These programs were expanded and refined by the Japanese and contributed greatly to their reemergence after the war as a highly respected producer of quality products. Ironically, in the 1950’s, “Made in Japan” was a euphuism for shoddy workmanship and cheap products. Today, it stands as a model of excellence to be copied and used around the world.

Lean Supply Chain Management is a term being used for any process which utilizes a combination of tools and programs to improve customer satisfaction while reducing costs for any business. Lean Supply Chain Management is not exclusively for those companies that manufacture products and has been used successfully in a number of service industries such as the medical field and insurance industry. It can be applied and used by any business that wants to streamline their processes by eliminating non-value added activities. Companies have any number of areas within their supply chain where waste can be identified as it relates to variability in time, costs or inventory. To create a leaner supply chain, companies must examine each area of their supply chain.

Whatever application is utilized, the two most important aspects of any, or all, of these programs is having the commitment to support the programs at the highest level of your organization…. and the patience to allow time for them to work. No one in 1950’s America would have understood, much less accepted, the concept of Japan being the model of quality that it is today!

At LSC Logistics, we will customize a plan for improvement tailored to your particular business. By working with you and your employees we will introduce the best change management tools that have the greatest positive impact to your business. And, you won’t have to wait 50 years to see positive results!!

Question

What do you want your company to do that it is not doing now?
Competition in today’s business environment raises the basic expectations of your customers. If you cannot adjust to your customers needs, or continue to be competitively priced, your customers will turn to someone else. You must change in order to grow. You know this, but are too often tied up in the day to day management of your business that you forget the need for change. In fact, you may have become so busy that your team has slowly evolved into a group of fire fighters. Do you always seem to be in a reactive mode and just can’t find the time to get in front of issues?

Ask yourself these questions:
• What is the next best move for your company?
• What do you do well? What do you think you should improve?
• If you had all the time you needed, what is the one area you would like to work on in your business?
• What is the single most important item that you feel would transform your company and exceed your customer’s expectations?

We’re sure you’ve thought about these questions….all of us have. But we never seem to find the time to do anything about it. Or, more importantly, we are never really sure what one area we should attack. We can think of so many areas we’d like to work on we quickly become overwhelmed and end up not working on any of them, and we continue to work in a reactive mode. While doing an excellent job of firefighting, we still want to improve, but where to start? We are trying to answer the proverbial question: how do you eat an elephant?

So, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!! We have a set of Audit Questions that we will review with you and your team. These questions are designed to focus on areas that need immediate attention and will provide some quick wins for your business. They will allow us to help you and your team to focus in on key areas, develop programs for improvement, and then implement specific projects designed for permanent change.