E&HT supply chain should become like apparel supply chains...

Filed in archive Point of view on October 25, 2008

As you may the goal of the supply chain in different industries are different: Consumer goods supply chain is loking for S&OP to respond rapidly to consumer movements and demand; while oil and gas supply chain tries to maximize ROI by MES and industries such as High-Tech are looking for reducing time to value.

I read a post by Trevor Miles in Kinaxis blog which was really interesting: Trevor was referring to the company Circuit City closing 150 stores in the U.S. to escape bankruptcy. The question is: What will happen to the suppliers of Circuit City which have already committed purchase of raw materials and components?

He believes that E&HT suppliers should become like fashion and consumer goods ones; in another words, relying on historical data should give its place to agility. He believes they should implement a system which provides:

- multi-tier visibility to all inventory and commitments
- a collaborative environment that includes suppliers and customers
- rapid what-if capabilities, shared with their customers and suppliers, in which they can evaluate alternatives

What do you think?