Most supply chain professionals have faced the challenge of a difficult supplier that you cannot replace. Your difficult supplier's product may be designed into your product, or it may be a unique technology or any number of other reasons that make it impractical to change suppliers. When facing these situations,...
35% sustainable throughput improvement in 120 days
How is this rapid improvement possible? The circumstances can be challenging to see, but they are there more often than organizations care to admit. This case involved the introduction of a new vehicle. No capital expenditures were allowed and limited monies for the realignment of existing assembly lines. The lines...
Should-cost Models: Rapid, Reliable Cost Reduction
Should-cost models develop the visibility needed to deliver sustainable value. These powerful tools provide a pathway to rapid, reliable cost reduction. A big claim, yes, but let’s examine the steps to develop this value: Understand the value chain. This knowledge provides the perspective needed to make reliable decisions.Build the should-cost...
Should-cost Models, Why so Scary?
In the spirit of Halloween, I wanted to discuss the scary side of should-cost models – visibility and accountability. The clarifying discipline of should-cost models brings visibility to the corruption that can be hidden in a products’ cost structure. This visibility can be terrifying to the people who buried problems...