LIFE SCIENCE SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS BY STEVE CLARKE

Processes are the key leverage point to create better results. Technology should support the process, but don’t be in a rush to automate. I caution heavily against automating before your process has matured. Automating an immature process will freeze your process at that level of maturity, since technology is expensive and time-consuming to implement. Once you have proceeded down the automation route, making the technology work now becomes the focus, not improving your process. I have never met a business process that is immediately perfect. But, I have experienced many times when a redesigned business process stagnates in its early stages of maturity, because technology was applied too quickly and it becomes frozen in time, even though it was not yet ready. Instead, once a newly designed process is operational, observe it and seek feedback from the stakeholders. There will undoubtedly be gaps and room for improvement, so if there are no efforts to improve it at the early stages then it will never perform to its potential, and its outputs will always be a disappointment. On the other hand, if you continuously solicit feedback, and act upon it, the process will improve until it reaches “steady state”. In other words, improvement opportunities slow down from an avalanche in the beginning to a slow trickle. At that point, the process can now be considered effective. It will be generating outputs of high quality, on time and cost effectively. However, it will still involve too many manual steps, so it will be effective, but inefficient. Technology can enable it to become efficient and even more effective, since manual steps are often associated with mistakes and a lack of consistency. Follow these guidelines and your supply chain performance should transform quickly and sustainably for the long term.

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“Expert in supply chain management and process development. Improved inventory turns, increased efficiency and service levels” 

~Mark Slauson, Senior Global Commodity Manager