DC Velocity - February 2011

S&OP meetings called “not unlike”
murder trials

Murder trials have been compared to jigsaw puzzles and heavyweight boxing matches, but supply chain management? In a post on the Logistics Viewpoint blog site, Adrian Gonzalez made that very analogy. Reflecting on his recent experience as a juror in a murder trial, Gonzalez, a longtime supply chain technology analyst at ARC Advisory Group, noted a number of similarities between the two.

“Bringing together a diverse group of citizens to determine the facts and render a verdict is not unlike bringing a group of people from different functional groups together in a monthly S&OP (sales and operations planning) meeting to determine ‘one version of the truth,’” Gonzalez wrote. In a trial, the jury must assess the credibility of witnesses and the truthfulness of their testimony. Participants in an S&OP meeting, likewise, must gauge the accuracy of forecasts and the “testimony” of their colleagues, he wrote. For example, someone in logistics might question whether sales is being too optimistic, or someone in sales might wonder whether logistics is prepared to handle expected volume spikes caused by product promotions.

The results of supply chain teams’ S&OP decisions can have lasting consequences, just as a jury’s verdict does, Gonzalez continued. The CEO’s quarterly message to investors, moreover, is analogous to the jury foreperson’s announcement of the verdict. For a publicly held company, “guilty” equates to falling short of analyst expectations and missing quarterly numbers, he noted. “Innocent” is exceeding expectations, taking market share from the competition, and raising the bar for the next quarter. ;

Whether or not real men wear pink may be up for debate. But in one Houston warehouse, at least, real men drive pink—a pink forklift, that is.

To raise awareness about male breast cancer—a disease the American Cancer Society estimated would be newly diagnosed for just under 2,000 U.S. men in 2010— Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks of Houston, the factory dealership owned by Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc., launched the “Real Men Drive Pink” campaign. As part of that effort, the dealership built and sold a pink electric forklift truck to raise funds to support breast cancer research.

Golden Town International, a restaurant furnishings designer and distributor to Asian restaurants throughout the country, put charity before image and purchased the pink electric truck for use in its Houston warehouse. Proceeds from the sale were donated to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund. ; Real men drive pink

inbound
GSA goes green and clean

Until now, green supply chain initiatives were largely confined to private industry. While the U.S. government offered plenty of help and encouragement—most notably through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Smart Way transportation campaign—it mainly stayed on the sidelines. But now the feds are planning to jump in the game and “green” their own supply chain.

Leading the way is the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which manages purchasing, real estate, and other administrative functions for the federal government. In November, GSA announced the GreenGov Supply Chain Partnership and Small Business Pilot, a voluntary collaboration between the federal government and its suppliers.

The program aims to promote clean energy and cut waste and pollution in the federal supply chain using greenhouse gas emissions as a yardstick. Suppliers that join the GreenGov Supply Chain Partnership agree to measure and report their emissions to the government. GSA plans to use that information to develop incentives and contracting advantages for participating suppliers. The partnership includes a Small Business Pilot Program that will provide technical assistance through GSA to help small businesses measure, report, and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

“The federal government is the single largest energy consumer in the U.S. economy and purchases more than $500 billion in goods and services every year,” said Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, at a press conference announcing the initiative. “It is our responsibility to lead by example to improve efficiency, eliminate waste, and promote clean energy in our supply chain.” ;