DC Velocity - IdeaBook 2017

W hen it comes to creating a successful sup- ply chain operation in today’s competitive marketplace, maintaining the status quo is not an option. A “world class” supply chain—one that is lean, reliable, agile, responsive, and cost-effective—requires continuous process improvement and a “big picture” perspective on total ownership costs and network performance. Continuous process improvement, however, is not possible without successfully executing projects focused on areas of underperformance.

Successfully managing supply chain projects, such as those listed in Figure 1, does not necessarily require any special “magic” or complex software (although it does help). It does, however, require diligently following a methodical project management process.

We have all witnessed projects lose focus halfway through, stall, or fail to have the desired effect. In nearly every case, the absence—or improper application—of a structured project methodology is a major reason for the failure. This is not just based on anecdotal evidence; research and studies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Insights and Trends: Current Programme and Project Management Practices have proved that utilizing a project management methodology leads to higher-performing projects. 1

Many methodologies are available for addressing the execution of a supply chain project. Some, such as Six Sigma, Lean, and Project Management Body of Knowledge, are in wide use, while others were developed by consulting companies for their own use.

At Expeditors’ Network Solutions Group, which focuses on designing and optimizing distribution networks, global transportation-flow models, and workflow/business-process architecture projects, we have worked with hundreds of customers on supply chain projects. The experience gained through these projects led us to develop our own approach, which we call Supply Chain Project Lifecycle (Figure 2). We believe this straightforward project methodology helps supply chain managers to focus on projects that will return the most value to the organization while dispensing with those that would inevitably waste precious time and resources.

We purposely kept our methodology simple. No certification or professional project management curriculum is required to implement it. To the trained project manager, the ideas in this methodology will be familiar, and the steps themselves will seem intuitive. This simplicity, along with the methodology’s flexibility, allows the process to be adapted to almost any supply chain situation and makes it easy for even the novice project manager to