Supply Chain Interim Management Jobs
Follow this link if you'd like to register for supply chain interim management jobs.
Scope & Purpose
Supply chain interim management jobs can include responsibility for:
- Supplier Scheduling
- Inbound Logistics
- Raw Materials Inventory Management
- Purchasing Management
- Operations Management
- Production Planning and Control
- Work in Progress Inventory Management
- Finished Goods Inventory Management
- Outbound Logistics Management
- Customer Service
The purpose of any supply chain job is to drive value into the supply chain and/or reduce cost from it by managing it holistically. As such, an important element of supply chain interim management jobs is that they take a system-wide view of business improvement.
The Importance of Optimising Systems - Not Just Sub-Systems in Supply Chain Interim Management Jobs
It's easy to make the mistake of optimising sub-systems at the expense of the entire system; for example by purchasing raw materials in large quantities, to reduce purchase prices. However, the additional cost to the business of holding the inventory may be more than just the opportunity cost of investing the cash elsewhere. It can mean the difference between the life and death of the business. In such cases its important to understand the subtleties of the total cost of supply chain acquisition. That is, for a particular purchase the sum of the:
- purchase price (material, labour, overheads and profit)
- inbound logistics costs (supplier scheduling, transportation, warehousing & inspection)
- inventory holding cost (typically an opportunity cost e.g. 15% of the inventory value)
- cost of poor quality (measured either at goods inwards, WIP, or its impact on products/services in the field)
Whilst purchasing a product from the Far East may look attractive when looking just at a comparison of invoice prices, the cost of additional inventory in the inbound supply chain, and the risk of having say six weeks of quality problems "on the water" at any one time, can very easily tip the total acquisition cost analysis in another direction unless such risks are considered holistically.
In a business which is restricted by process bottlenecks, "de-bottlenecking" can dramatically reduce cost, by increasing throughput and enabling fixed costs to be amortised over greater volumes - if (and only if) more product can be sold.
In batch manufacturing businesses, lean manufacturing tools and techniques such as quick changeover methodologies can make a dramatic difference to the overall performance of the supply chain, by allowing smaller batches to be made, which in turn tend to engender more of a make to order supply chain management approach, rather than a make to stock approach. This drives unnecessary inventory out of the business, and equally importantly (and often overlooked) allows level scheduling (tending towards "batches of one") which reduce "spikes" in demand patterns within the supply chain and therefore reduces the need for specialist resources to cope with demand spikes; thus driving out the cost of having additional resources just to deal with the peaks; which can be considerable.
The elimination of shortages on low value raw materials, by using simple "two-bin" supply chain replenishment systems, or better still "direct line feed" systems can have a dramatic impact on the reduction of work in progress during the final assembly by reducing time otherwise spent "waiting for materials".
So supply chain interim management jobs then are arguably at the heart of the business, and their level of influence on the performance of the business can be dramatic.
Want to Register for Supply Chain Interim Management Jobs ?
Follow the link to register for supply chain interim management jobs. For more information on supply chain management consultancy and interim management services contact us at Executive Interims - Supply Chain Practice. We'll be pleased to help. |
