Supply Chain Management Best Practices, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 16The Supply Chain Profession: What Keeps You Up at Night?

Flashpoints

• Top-performing companies have top-performing supply chain people working for them.
• Effective supply chain managers must be able to measure the right things, rather than everything.
• Every company should consider appointing a chief supply chain officer.
• The time is now to start developing the next generation of supply chain talent.

In today's business climate, just managing to get through an entire work day without a major crisis has become a core competency for supply chain professionals. Whether a company looks upon supply chain management as the be-all and end-all of its corporate strategy, or whether it chooses to outsource most of its warehousing and transportation processes to a third party, its supply chain specialists always seem to be in the middle of one contentious situation after another. Maybe that's just the nature of the job.

Up to this point, this book has looked at best practices as they relate to tasks, processes, and technology, but with this final climactic chapter, it's only fitting that we reveal the ultimate secret to supply chain success: you. That's right, for a company to truly have a fighting chance at transforming its supply chain and achieving consistent best-in-class performance, it's going to be up to you to help lead that effort.

Throughout this book we've looked at the supply chain through practitioners' eyes because supply chain management isn't a dry study ...