Does your company have a supply chain black box?
by Sterling J. Scott, Marketing Communications Coordinator, MHI | @mhi_sterling
When a plane is lost or crashes, the first thing rescuers look for is the black box. The black box records all flight activities and sends a signal to help rescuers locate it. This black box stores a lot of data that is very comprehensive, but is usually only sought after to determine why something went wrong.
Every aspect of a business has a black box. If you think of a company as an airport and all of the departments or areas of operation as airplanes, then the largest plane and arguably, the most important plane, would be the supply chain.
The supply chain black box records data available on all supply chain activities. The problem is, that many companies are unaware of it, and those that are aware of it, only seek the data when there is a problem.
More important than having a detailed overview of past performance, is having a detailed, real-time view of your supply chain. For most companies, supply chain optimization is growing in importance and supply chain analytics are a crucial part of optimization.
The ability to view your company’s supply chain in real-time allows you to be agile. You don’t want to wait until a crisis occurs to begin looking at the data. You want to be aware of all supply chain activities and conditions from end-to-end. The only way to do that is through supply chain analytics.
For more information on supply chain analytics and other emerging supply innovations, download the 2014 Annual MHI Industry Report which is available at www.mhi.org.
