Weak links, strong links: Who is taking over the supply chain?
There have been rumblings that the procurement function is "taking over" supply chain management. That kind of thinking is shaky on its best day and destructive in the long run. Here's why.
Art van Bodegraven was, among other roles, chief design officer for the DES Leadership Academy. He passed away on June 18, 2017. He will be greatly missed.
One of the more respected discussion fora (no, that is not an oxymoron, and is the plural of a much-maligned noun) recently trumpeted an uncertain clarion call indicating that the procurement function was "taking over" supply chain management.
Never mind that the claim is not helpful in maintaining our fragile peer relationships within the chain(s); it is also wrong-headed. This should not be surprising, as consultants may have been involved in the background, and some are easily swayed by the wisdom of 26-year-old savants.
Climbing down from the aerie of high dudgeon, we are dismayed that it is apparently amazingly easy to either forget or ignore the core directions of changed relationships within both supply chain and corporate functions as we plunge deeper into the 21st century.
THE EMERGING BIGGER PICTURE ...
We have written, enthusiastically and approvingly, about the evolution away from last-century organizational paradigms. In short, the old model of operations management was often either led or controlled by an old-school executive, whose value was measured in the number of his (less often, her) direct reports and the number of functional departments making up his stable of skills and results. A popular management style was to pit departmental executives against one another in competition for budget money, capital, and positions as heirs-apparent. Performance targets were typically inwardly focused. Not only were they unaligned with one another for collective outcomes, but they were frequently in direct opposition, creating win-lose (or lose-lose) opportunities at almost every turn.
In the new century, we are seeing the beginnings of a sea change. The top executive in a supply chain management environment is no longer yesterday's operational lion tamer, with chair, whip, and pistol at the ready. He (and more often than ever before, she) is a facilitator and a builder, who fosters close positive working relationships within the chain and within the company. The idea is not internal competition; it is collaboration, synchronized execution, common and aligned performance targets, and a focus on enterprise success based on serving customer needs perfectly, even spectacularly.
We are moving away from the adversarial operations management model and toward the positive and integrated supply chain model. The direction is clear, but the pace of change is sometimes tentative. Both models will be around in parallel for some time.
Obviously, though, both models cannot exist side by side within a single organization without introducing very stressful cognitive dissonance and creating an umbrella of dysfunction. Equally obviously, in an age of external collaboration with suppliers and customers, internal collaboration is a must, a prerequisite. So, what are these people thinking when they gleefully salute a takeover within the realm of supply chain management?
THE ROLE OF ENLIGHTENED PROCUREMENT
We've written, too, about the necessity of including sourcing and procurement as part of end-to-end holistic supply chain organizations. It is vital to include, integrate, and synchronize what those folks do in creating profitable customer relationships and creating shareholder value. But "supply" is not "supply chain"—there are more pieces to the puzzle, and this news can stun those who think the universe begins and ends with good procurement practices.
THE REAL ISSUE
The core of our concern is not so much procurement as it is the notion that any functional area is being positioned to "take over" the supply chain. What's next, a palace coup by customer service? Just picture it, a gaggle of troops wearing headsets and camo gear, waving banners with revolutionary slogans, marching and singing like students in "Les Miz."
The idea that any function is superior or should, by virtue of title, rule the supply chain world is shaky on its best day and destructive in the long run. Our most important attribute is the ability to have everyone on the same bus and to not be fighting over who should be driving.
THE SUPPLY CHAIN LEADER
OK, smart guys, who, then, should be in charge of supply chain management? Our answer: no one based on job title, but someone with the right set of attributes. These are fairly simple to state, but very difficult to find. As for those attributes, in our view, the person must be:
A leader, not a manager. The successful supply chain function demands, for real success, to have someone at the top who can rally, align, and persuade those around him or her. Someone who attracts followers but does not command minions.
A visionary, not a rule-maker. Someone who is not a mere dreamer, but someone who can craft the structure of a distant, but far superior, future. And embed in that future the seeds of sustainable success, both external and internal.
A clear thinker, who is not seduced by passing fancies and who can cut through the clutter to get to core issues and opportunities.
A passionate server of customers and their needs in succeeding in their markets with their customers.
A performance-obsessed value creator—for the company, for its shareholders, and for its associates—someone who truly understands the full range of supply chain contributions to long-term success, and not merely a cost/price/inventory-cutter.
A broadly experienced supply chain professional who understands what the supply chain's components are, how they work together, and how they—in concert—deliver the goods.
It's a tough job, finding a walks-on-water individual who is genuine and authentic to the core. But the supply chain of today—and tomorrow—really demands no less. Not only is the search worth the effort, it could be the difference between being around or sinking beneath the waves as sea changes continue to roll in.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.