Managing Supply Chain Management Relationships Requires an Effort Equal to Significance of the Relationships

Consultants, market analysts, and software gurus have voiced their opinions lately on what they feel are the best practices companies should implement to effectively manage the supply chain. Most points these experts make are valid, but for many companies the key question is whether they have the resources to make best practices work.

A case in point: Companies that buy supply-chain-related software and never install it. Perhaps they have a change in priorities or they uncover issues prior to installation and deem moving forward with installation is more trouble than it's worth? My gut tells me that they thought they would be able to plug in their application and immediately reduce resources, but then they discover that relationships can't be managed by technology alone.

Consumer Goods Technology magazine recently conducted a survey on trading partner communication that brought to light three points of interest:

-64% of the respondents communicate with their trading partners several times a day;

-Over 50% of the respondents use four or more systems to manage the trading partner relationships from key documents to operational compliance;

-73% of the respondents indicated that they had ten or more employees involved in managing business interactions with trading partners.

What does this mean?

If trading partner relations (i.e. EDI, shipping, vendor managed inventory, demand planning, etc.) are critical elements in a strategic trading partner relationship, then dedicated staff is required to achieve success. Consider EDI. EDI software will improve accuracy, reduce errors, and allow staff to focus on other business issues.

That said, we often encounter companies that have purchased solutions thinking they are acquiring the complete automation of business processes related to their ...