Ramki Ramakrishnan

Customer is King...so goes the old adage. However it is not necessary King is always right or is aware of trends. Sometimes there are reasons other than logical strategy for the client to insist on what they want us to do. It is important to understand that perspectives- deep rooted fears and belief which is driving their thinking. Ideally it will be good to do a dip stick of as is. The results may be eye opener for the client. It is important to do a step by step sensitization instead of accepting what the client proposes. It is important to stand for what really makes sense for client rather than the myopic approach of accepting and delivering what the client is requesting. That honesty will be appreciated by the client

A lot of companies look at sales history as demand history. If there are no backorders it can work. But if the order to sales time is more as in case of export orders we can miss the demand triggers by months creating distortion. Also taking out exceptions from historical data is key. A company got better forecasting by recognising four 3 month buckets which had a similar demand situation over several years. It was not aligned to the finance quarters. Such nuances will help fix the historic data patterns. I believe a strong Sales and operational planning process with clear ownership and collaboration helps in global context. Inventory need not be made just in case but to meet actual demands emerging.

Building trust is key to managing a supply chain disruption. While a lot of companies talk about win-win relationships, only a few walk the talk. Collaborative relationships are as critical as online connectivity and strategy of inventory.. responsiveness is key but unless there is a strong sense of collaboration it never happens. While a good contract mitigates risks ,it doesn't help to go out of the way to support in case of disruptions. Therefore important is companies run supply chains as a trust chain and manage risks and changing demand/supply scenarios.

Process integration is key...devil is in details..specification is one thing but how it gets read and executed is another. What makes overall process efficient is communication and exception tracking. While real time integration is ideal , but it maynot be always possible. Important is ability to track process integration by testing failure modes. Some Japanese companies analyse near misses to ensure process integration and reliability is assured

Important is to simplify...complexity is never appreciated by the audience. Break down what we have to say into easy , logical steps. Add some practical elements to convey the message in a more powerful way. Never try to confuse by giving conflicting information. Be factual but don't make it boring. Run it through a not connected person to see if they are able to understand most of it. Simplifying is complex but expert communication is about making it simple..

The next world war will be fought on the right over natural resources like water is the scary prediction.. resource scarcity is a real threat to peace as it can lead to social unrests forcing governments to intervene aggressively challenging democracy and people's rights. Fight for survival will end in all rules broken and can threaten existence of human life on earth ...