DC Velocity - February 2015

34 DC VELOCITY FEBRUARY 2015 www.dcvelocity.com t h ou g ht l e a der s

L OUI S R . F E R R ET T I

look at the data, the alerts, and we make a determination very quickly whether or not we think it is going to impact the supply chain only in the short term or if it is a fundamental issue that is going to change the supply chain for the longer term.

Q What has the tool done for IBM?

A Well, overall it has raised the level of risk awareness and sensitivity. Sourcing people around the world understand that sourcing the product and getting the best price and getting it delivered on time are all necessary, but understanding the level of risk that the supplier brings as well as the part’s supply chain is something that is equal to the other items.

In the Japan situation, the tool immediately told us how
many suppliers we had in Japan, whether they were tier one
or two, what commodities they provided, etc. The execu-
tive team could reach out to the suppliers right away and
determine if the factories would be up and running and
if not now, when. We had an abundance of information
at our fingertips that we eventually would have gotten to,
but the sooner you get this information, the more options
you have to deal with the crisis because for the most part,
competitors are going to the same suppliers, the same man-
ufacturing lines, the same capacity.

Q Do you have plans to expand the tool’s scope and features? A There are really a couple of things here. It would sure be nice if we could see a picture of the factory when our executive is talking to that top executive in Japan. Actually, we developed what we call a risk app and tested it, and we have it in play now. We are going to be using it for other aspects of IBM, so this gives us the ability to communicate on the spot.

The next thing that we have done is [a result of] the Thailand flooding. About 50 percent of the hard drive business is in Thailand, so that situation was very, very acute. We were asked to look at supply clustering. So we looked around, and we found that we do have suppliers in several sites around the world that are clustered in different geographies. So we started to look at the potential of flooding. We actually have this now; we’ve got a prototype that is up and running, and we are using it.

Editor’s note: To learn more about the development of IBM’s Total Risk Assessment Tool, watch our exclusive interview with Lou Ferretti at www.dcvelocity.com/dcvtv/ news/3866842923001/.

Increase Order Fulfillment Productivity 50% or More Numina Group Designs and Delivers Voice-Driven Automated Pick, Pack, and Ship Solutions

• Speaker Independent Voice Picking with Zero-Training
• 30% – 75% Reduction in Labor with 99.9% Accuracy
• Hands Free 2D Camera – Rapid item SKU and Lot Barcode Scan Verification
• Automate Pack & Ship – Pack Sheet – Ship Label Print and Apply Automation
• Tier 1 WCS – Accelerates the performance of existing ERP/WMS Systems
www.numinagroup.com Powered by Real-time Distribution System, RDS™
Results: