DC Velocity - November 2011

Supply chain metrics is an area that’s all too often overlooked or forgotten. At CSCMP’s Annual Global Conference in Philadelphia, the “Measures and Metrics” track sparked healthy discussions about metrics-related principles that are well known to many of us but merit reinforcement.

Among the tried-and-true recommendations: Recognize that no single set of metrics will help you become perfect, and that metrics are fluid. Track the things you need to watch, and when you have to shift your business focus and drive improvement elsewhere, modify your scorecard accordingly. The right metrics create alignment through incentives and by creating cultural norms.

Metrics may be a serious subject, but even the most mathematically minded enjoyed the occasional bit of levity, such as when Robert Lim, vice president of production planning and inventory control (PPIC) at Del Monte, offered this creative description of the predictive power of a well-crafted metrics program. “If Wile E. Coyote had a metrics program monitoring his efforts to catch the Road Runner,” he said, “he would have known that after about two minutes and 30 seconds, there was a 90-percent probability of an anvil’s dropping on his head.” ;

Why use metrics? Beeps me

Most of the paeans to the late Steve Jobs have focused on the Apple founder and CEO’s legacy as a technology and product marketing genius. But he was also a supply chain innovator whose ideas influenced how many companies produce and deliver their products today.

Think how i Tunes changed the way music is distributed, how the iPad is changing the way print media are distributed (our very own iPad app being a case in point), and how iPhones are revolutionizing the way consumers buy goods and services. In the last couple of years, iPhones and iPads have been finding their way into the warehouse and DC, and are increasingly used by truck drivers and couriers to track and manage shipments. And hardly a week goes by that we don’t receive an announcement from carriers, 3PLs, or software companies of a new logis-tics-related iPhone app.

Jobs clearly understood the role Apple’s supply chain played in the company’s financial and marketing success. It’s no surprise that the company has several times ranked at the top of the annual Gartner/AMR list of best-run supply chains. Further evidence of Jobs’ supply chain savvy: His handpicked successor, Tim Cook, was the company’s longtime chief operating officer, with responsibility for supply chain, including manufacturing, distribution, logistics, and inventory management. Cook— with Jobs’ blessing—was instrumental in moving Apple some years ago from a build-your-own supply chain model to a cost-efficient one centered on supplier management and contract manufacturing. ;

Supply chain was Apple of Steve Jobs’ eye

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In October, Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management honored the recipients of the prestigious Salzberg Medallions. The annual awards recognize outstanding contributions in the field of supply chain management and are part of the Harry E. Salzberg Memorial Program, founded in 1949 with a grant from Murray M. Salzberg ’ 37 B.S. to honor his father’s career in transportation.

This year’s recipient of the medallion for lifetime achievement in the field of logistics and supply chain management is Professor Yossi Sheffi, the Elisha Gray II professor of engineering systems and director of the Center for Transportation and Logistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Sheffi has won numerous other awards for his thought leadership and academic achievements, including the 1998 Distinguished Service Award from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).

C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc., a grocery distributor known for its efficient approach to distribution, received a medallion for its leadership in logistics and supply chain management as well as for serving as a role model for social responsibility. The award was accepted by Scott Charlton, executive vice president, operations.

Syracuse University says it was the first academic institution in the nation to offer a transportation program as a course of study. In 1919, the university’s College of Business introduced a specialization in traffic and transportation. The curriculum consisted of three courses: railroad transportation, water transportation, and traffic management. In 1920, a local industrialist endowed a chair in transportation, and in 1921, the College of Business offered the first class in the country on motor transportation. ;