thoughtleaders TRACY MAYLETT Automated Vertical Storage Systems It All Adds Up To VALUE
Maylett has also taught strategy in the
Marriott School of Management at
Brigham Young University. He has a doctorate in organizational change from
Pepperdine University and is the author
of numerous publications relating to
feedback, human process systems,
and leadership. His article “A
hard look at the soft side of
performance,” co-written
with Kate Vitasek,
appeared in the Quarter
4/2011 edition of DC
VELOCITY’S sister publication, CSCMP’s Supply
Chain Quarterly.
Maylett recently spoke with
DC VELOCITY Group Editorial
Director Mitch Mac Donald about
the importance of interpersonal skills
in the workplace and how those skills can
have as much effect on supply chain performance as the operational aspects of a
business.
process. We need to be measuring not
just what got done, but how it got done.
For instance, a lot of the steps toward
greater efficiency have included the use
of technology. In taking this approach,
we may have designed humans out of the
system. There’s been a lot of
designing humans out of this
to make the supply chain
relationship a purely technology relationship or a
goods exchange relationship. It is almost an obsession to design humans out
of the system, when in reality it is the human piece that
holds the supply chain together.
Small parts are expensive. Traditional
shelving eats up valuable floor space
and exposes parts. What’s more, parts
can be tough to find and reach; keeping
accurate inventories a challenge.
The Lauyans Small Parts Storage
System (SPSS) is a USA manufactured
solution offering high density storage
utilizing vertical space for greater
footprint capacity, worker safety,
security, labor savings and the most
competitive pricing available.
Before you decide to buy any
Automated Storage System, go online
and check out our pricing.
www.SPSSonline.com
It All Adds Up To VALUE It All Adds Up To VALUE
QHow have companies traditionally gone about measuring the performance of their supply chain operations?
AMost of the emphasis has been on measuring the hard side. By “hard
side,” I mean very, very specific aspects of
operational efficiency and performance—like ship rates, inventory turns,
sales, and so forth. Over the past 15 years,
most organizations have become pretty
adept at measuring the hard side.
But in the last 10 years, I’ve come to
realize that these organizations are missing a whole piece of the picture. What we
are missing is how things happen. We
tend to measure what we did, what we
accomplished, and what has been done.
What is not factored in is how things are
taken care of.
QSo how do we change that? You talk about the soft
skills—or if you will, the human or interpersonal skills—in a supply chain. What
are some of the skills that can have a measurable impact on the supply chain or an
organization’s supply chain effectiveness?
AThe first one is communication, obviously. My co-author on the
Supply Chain Quarterly article was Kate
Vitasek, who a few years ago wrote an
article on collaborative education.
Collaborative education relies on a willingness to exchange information back
and forth. So one of the soft skills is not
just how we maximize the technology or
the logistics pieces, but how we maximize
our knowledge of each other and what
works for us and what doesn’t work for
us. So that interpersonal communication
piece is a key part of this.
Lauyans & Company, Inc.
1-866-LAUYANS (528-9267)
USA Manufactured
QWhy is that important?
ABy failing to focus on how things get done, companies could jeopardize or even destroy relationships. We may
have met one of our metrics so things
look fine on paper, but some larger issue
may have been missed. We may have just
decimated a vendor. We may have
destroyed a customer relationship in the
QAre there other soft skills that shouldbetakenintoconsideration?
AYes. Building and maintaining rela- tionships is a big piece of this. One
of the things we see quite often in supply
chain management is the focus on hitting
a metric, and we might be blind to the
fact that we may destroy relationships in
the process. My firm focuses a lot on
measuring what we call engagement,
employee engagement. That is the idea
that employees are bringing their hearts,
their hands, and their minds to what they
are doing. So the next piece is motivation. The motivation piece is how intrin-
