{"62752":{"#nid":"62752","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Supply Chain Flexibility Focus of Fall 2010 Supply Chain Executive Forum","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EConsidering the challenges confronting today\u2019s supply chain\nexecutives, the ability to be flexible ranks among the most critical of needed\ncapabilities. But what is supply chain flexibility, why is it important, and\nhow do you achieve it? These were among the important questions covered at the fall\n2010 meeting of Georgia Tech\u2019s Supply Chain Executive Forum.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWith the theme, \u201cSUPPLY CHAIN FLEXIBILITY: Critical Changes\nMay Require Expanded Flexibility,\u201d the two-day meeting, sponsored by the H.\nMilton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering\u2019s (ISyE) Supply\nChain \u0026amp; Logistics Institute (SCL), featured prominent speakers and\nfacilitated discussions to help stimulate thought and dialogue to address these\nquestions.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EJohn Welling, vice-president of Wal-Mart Innovation; Eric\nPeters, CEO of FoodLink Online; Jack Allen, director, Global Logistics, Cisco\nSystems; and John Bauer, director, Global Transportation, Supply Chain Operations\nfor Starbucks Coffee Company all gave presentations tackling the topic of\nsupply chain flexibility in their own companies. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAdditionally, Dr. John Langley,\nSCL professor of Supply Chain Management and Executive Forum faculty director; Dan Gilmore,\neditor, \u003Cem\u003ESupply Chain Digest\u003C\/em\u003E;\nand Gene Tyndall,\nexecutive vice president \u2013 Global, Tompkins Associates, facilitated an\ninteractive session revealing the results of a member survey on supply chain\nflexibility. A unique feature of this afternoon session was the graphics\nrepresentation of the discussion facilitated by Martha McGinnis, president of\nVisual Logic, Inc., a graphic facilitation firm. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe key questions and issues the presenters were asked to\naddress with respect to supply chain flexibility included:\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EWhat is your definition of supply chain\nflexibility?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EWhy is flexibility important to your supply\nchain?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EWhat are some objectives and priorities you have\nset for supply chain flexibility?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EHow do you measure supply chain flexibility?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EWhat are some examples of supply chain\nflexibility that you have experience with at your company?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EHow to achieve supply chain flexibility (e.g.,\nprocess, organizational challenges, etc.)?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EBarriers to greater success with supply chain\nflexibility?\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EJohn Welling of Wal-Mart was\nthe first to address these questions in his Wednesday keynote presentation,\n\u201cSupply Chain Flexibility at Wal-Mart.\u201d Quoting from the article \u201cPerspectives, practices and future of supply\nchain flexibility\u201d by Dileep More and A. Subash Babu, Welling defined\nsupply chain flexibility as the \u0026nbsp;inherent\nability or characteristics of the supply chain and its partners to be sensitive\nto minor and major disturbances in the business environment; to correctly\nassess the actual situation; to quickly respond, adjust and adapt with little\ntime, effort and cost; and to effectively control the organization; and to keep\nthe performance stable. Expanding that definition with his own, Welling said that\na flexible supply chain supports multiple, evolving business models by\nleveraging common physical assets and inventory and collaborates with suppliers\nto remove waste, reduce cost, and improve service levels.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EContinuing the theme on\nThursday, FoodLink\u2019s CEO, Eric Peters, in his talk, \u201cCold-Chain Solutions to\nCreate Supply Chain Flexibility,\u201d said that the produce supply chain is unique\nin both the way in which product is delivered from farm to consumer, as well as\nthe communication required across links in the chain. Flexibility in that\nsupply chain is important because perishables, unlike dry goods, have a short\nshelf life and fragmented vendor base, are subject to commodity pricing and purchase\norder changes, and require multiple pickup locations. For Peters, flexibility\nstarts with the flow of information. \u201cWithout an effective trading partner\ncommunication channel that is integrated with back-end systems,\u201d Peters points\nout in his presentation, \u201cperishable procurement becomes extremely difficult.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIn his presentation, \u201cFlexibility at Cisco in Unusually Uncertain\nTimes,\u201d Jack Allen defines supply chain flexibility as the \u201cpromptness\nand degree to which our supply chain can respond with proactive and reactive\nadaptations of our speed, processes,\nnetwork locations, and volume\u003Cstrong\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003Ein order to handle changes in demand volume (up or down) and mix, operating\ncosts, and business needs.\u201d Continuing, he explains that Cisco\u2019s objective is\nto satisfy the customer, reduce cost and amount of unsatisfied demand, and\nimprove utilization, all with little or no penalty in response time. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ETo achieve this, Allen\nrecognizes that there are multiple layers to flexibility, which he describes\nas: \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ESupply Flex -- The ability of suppliers to flex\nup and down through multiple levels of the supply chain \u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ETactical Flex -- The ability of the supply chain\nto respond to immediate unexpected events\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ECapacity Flex -- The ability of the production\ncapacity to change up or down in time\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ELeadership Flex -- The ability of the management\nteam to change for events and trends\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ESystems \/ Process Flex \u2013 The ability of the\nprocesses and systems delivering the supply chain to change in time to new\nrequirements. \u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ERounding out the presentations\nwas Starbuck\u2019s John Bauer, with his talk titled, \u201cSupply Chain Flexibility: The\nStarbuck\u2019s Coffee Story.\u201d \u0026nbsp;Bauer\ndiscussed Starbuck\u2019s uplifting mission - to inspire and nurture the human spirit\n\u2013 one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.\u0026nbsp; The Starbucks Coffee story reinforced the\nneed to build flexibility into today\u2019s supply chains, in both the short- and\nlong-term.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe spring 2011 Executive Forum will meet on April 6 - 7,\n2011. To learn more about Georgia Tech\u2019s Supply Chain Executive Forum, visit\nthe website at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.scl.gatech.edu\/professional-education\/scef\/\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.scl.gatech.edu\/professional-education\/scef\/\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EConsidering the challenges confronting today\u2019s supply chain\nexecutives, the ability to be flexible ranks among the most critical of needed\ncapabilities. But what is supply chain flexibility, why is it important, and\nhow do you achieve it? These were among the important questions covered at the fall\n2010 meeting of Georgia Tech\u2019s Supply Chain Executive Forum.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Supply Chain Flexibility Focus of Fall 2010 Supply Chain Executive Forum"}],"uid":"27328","created_gmt":"2010-11-15 12:52:54","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:07:46","author":"Edie Cohen","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-11-15T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2010-11-15T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"62761":{"id":"62761","type":"image","title":"Dr. John Langley welcomes members to the Fall 2010 Supply Chain Exectuive Forum","body":null,"created":"1449176394","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:59:54","changed":"1475894547","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:27","alt":"Dr. John Langley welcomes members to the Fall 2010 Supply Chain Exectuive Forum","file":{"fid":"191559","name":"IMG_4876.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_4876_0.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_4876_0.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3698708,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/IMG_4876_0.JPG?itok=D-017TJm"}},"62763":{"id":"62763","type":"image","title":"Gene Tyndall, John Langley, and Dan Gilmore conducted an interactive session while Martha McGinnis provided graphic facilitation.","body":null,"created":"1449176394","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:59:54","changed":"1475894547","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:27","alt":"Gene Tyndall, John Langley, and Dan Gilmore conducted an interactive session while Martha McGinnis provided graphic facilitation.","file":{"fid":"191560","name":"IMG_4917.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_4917_0.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_4917_0.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3432204,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/IMG_4917_0.JPG?itok=1O5oUOKm"}},"62764":{"id":"62764","type":"image","title":"(L to R) Jack Allen, Cisco Systems; John Bauer, Starbucks Coffee Company; Dr. John Langley, SCL;  Eric Peters, FoodLink Online; John Welling, Wal-Mart Innovation.","body":null,"created":"1449176394","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:59:54","changed":"1475894547","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:27","alt":"(L to R) Jack Allen, Cisco Systems; John Bauer, Starbucks Coffee Company; Dr. John Langley, SCL;  Eric Peters, FoodLink Online; John Welling, Wal-Mart Innovation.","file":{"fid":"191561","name":"IMG_4990.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_4990_0.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_4990_0.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3158309,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/IMG_4990_0.JPG?itok=o1JDefgz"}}},"media_ids":["62761","62763","62764"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"11263","name":"Exectuvie Forum"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"426","name":"isye"},{"id":"7947","name":"John Langley"},{"id":"167077","name":"scl"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:barbara.christopher@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara \nChristopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}