In our last post in this series, we discussed the importance of having guiding principles for a supply chain. Now, we'll explore the second question:

What wastes lay hidden in areas such as: inventory, transportation, space and facilities, time, packaging, administration and knowledge within my supply chain?

With the reality of current events, many organizations are finding themselves deciding to relocate, improve upon, or completely re-design warehouse spaces in order to meet changing business conditions.  Some businesses are looking to eliminate waste as sales volume reduces, while at the same time retaining current staff. While others are seeing exponential growth and are looking to increase volume, without adding headcount, to improve margins.

Sometimes you’ve got to go "new." That is what Witchita-based BG Products determined when management recognized that the existing operation could not accommodate aggressive future growth projections. To address their multiple material flow and space issues, the company opted to build a new DC based on lean design principles.

In the webinar "Applying Lean Principles to a New DC Design" (in partnership with the Warehouse Education and Research Council - WERC), LeanCor's Brent Cable and Derek Browning explored how the LeanCor Consulting team developed BG Products’ new greenfield facility.  

Headquartered in Spencer, Mass., FLEXcon is a global leader in coated and laminated films and adhesives used in graphics applications, manufactured goods and new products. Customer and relationship-driven from the core of its business, FLEXcon has always valued product innovation and continuous improvement in order to provide customers with a competitive advantage.

When its leadership team recognized an opportunity to better serve customers from a delivery and efficiency standpoint, they knew they needed a logistics service provider that went beyond just moving products once they got to the dock.

They needed a strategic partner that would improve how products actually arrived at the dock and were loaded onto a truck.

FLEXcon partnered with LeanCor Supply Chain Group in order to think through its entire supply chain, ensuring its upstream processes that lead into the shipping department could support delivering better customer service. 

LeanCor's VP of Supply Chain Solutions, Derek Browning, sat down with FLEXcon's Chief Financial Officer, Aimee Peacock, to explore FLEXcon's journey to building a best-in-class logistics system to deliver higher value to its customers.

Since our first post in this series, we hope you've taken a few moments to reflect on your supply chain with the following questions:

1. What are the guiding principles of my supply chain?
2. What wastes lay hidden in areas such as: inventory, transportation, space and facilities, time, packaging, administration and knowledge within my supply chain?

Let’s begin by tackling question one for today: What are the guiding principles of your supply chain? 

First, have you or your team really defined the purpose of your supply chain?  When it was created, was it a matter of just piecing things together, as it progressed, or did you have a strategic plan on how it would fit together to deliver the products needed in the time required?  Unfortunately, many supply chains that we first encounter fit into the former scenario.  This approach is similar to building a car without fully understanding all of the pieces and systems that must fit together and work in harmony without first having a plan! 

Yet, many companies manage a complex supply chain that moves parts and stock keeping units (SKUs) over thousands of miles, through multiple borders and various modes of transportation, with little to no visibility or strategy.

Navigating through this complexity while keeping a "true north" requires a set of guiding principles for a resilient supply chain.

Guest post by Glenn Marshall, Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME)

While the United States remains a global leader in drug discovery, much of the manufacturing has moved offshore. China is known as the world’s factory for car parts, toys and electronics, but it also churns out much of the penicillin, antibiotics and pain medicines used across the globe, as well as surgical masks and medical devices.

Supporters of reducing reliance on China have used the coronavirus epidemic to highlight what they say is a longstanding vulnerability that could leave Americans dangerously short of medicines and medical supplies in the event of a war, trade conflict, or pandemic. Many believe we need to bring those manufacturing jobs back home so that we can protect the public health and the economic and national security of the country.

Now with the pandemic crisis, there is a wake-up call for the US to launch the re-purposing of its industrial base and skilled workforce to revitalize the economy and to return to the same manufacturing dominance we had achieved at the end of World War II. America needs a Marshall Plan-style initiative to resuscitate and restore the economy and society much like it did following WW II to help Europe revive their economy.

There are few among us who would have believed the severity of the "Black Swan" event amidst which we currently find ourselves. Our way of thinking about the world and our supply chains has changed.  We now find ourselves in uncharted waters and where we need to now - in some respects - begin again. 

Our supply chain status quo will not carry us successfully into the future. It's time for us to review, revamp and rebuild.  

FLORENCE, KY--(April 9, 2020)—LeanCor Supply Chain Group, a trusted partner in end-to-end supply chain management and logistics, today announced that LTI, Inc., a leading manufacturer of custom foodservice equipment, specializing in modular and custom serving counters as well as state-of-the-art serving technologies, has selected the company as its third-party logistics provider to manage logistics engineering and transportation execution in order to advance performance and deliver improved customer experience.

Like first responders, truck drivers continue to transport goods to millions of businesses and people amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Not only are trucks continuing to move, but they are doing so at speeds well in excess of normal traffic patterns.” said Rebecca Brewster, president and COO of ATRI, the trucking industry’s largest not-for-profit research organization (Logistics Management).

All of this movement imposes greater health risk of businesses spreading COVID-19 to employees as they receive deliveries into facilities.

One way our customers are helping to protect against this risk is to check drivers' temperatures upon arrival.

But how do you coordinate this into a fast, efficient, and humane process? We took some tips from one of our logistics customers - a consumer goods manufacturer. 

Global supply chains everywhere are being disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The good news is that with effective logistics control towers and management systems we can assure that critical supplies, food and materials will get to the people and communities that need them most. 

As our operations team meets hourly, daily and weekly, we're continuing to put pressure on different aspects of customer supply chains in order to improve performance and cost -- even amidst a pandemic.

First the trade war with China, now the spread of COVID-19. Some companies are facing a new reality: their supply chains are becoming increasingly unstable. When events like these happen – regardless of where – supply chains can be under-prepared and at the mercy of the market.

With COVID-19, the situation is evolving very quickly. What can we do now to mitigate the impact? And once this is all over, how will we recover?

In a webinar from Competitive Insights and LeanCor, we dove into what actionable supply chain risk (SCR) strategies companies are using that position them to thrive in this disruptive environment - while protecting team members, customers, and margins.