A new workflow.. and other (seemingly) trivial things!

Sometimes, I post updates about how certain changes have greatly affected me. I hope these updates help you learn something new and useful too. Last weekend, I changed my workflow – and the outcome has been dramatic.

Anyone who knows me personally, knows that I use feed reader applications in time-blocks through the day to keep myself updated about current trends everywhere. I use both Google Reader and Feedly in various ways. If you don’t know what a feed reader is, don’t panic. The concept is quite simple. Here’s a short intro courtesy Wikipedia.

In computing, a feed aggregator, also known as a feed reader, news reader, rss reader or simply aggregator, is client software or a Web application which aggregates syndicated web content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and vlogs in a single location for easy viewing. Aggregators reduce the time and effort needed to regularly check websites for updates, creating a unique information space or "personal newspaper". Once subscribed to a feed, an aggregator is able to check for new content at user-determined intervals and retrieve the update.

If you’re still not clear about the concept, read this Newbie’s guide. 

 

I’ve been using feed readers for years now. They help me stay up to date about things I’m interested in. Many of this blog’s popular articles like “The Apple that ate the Child”, “A new kind of Supply Chain Risk” and “A green and sustainable Wal-Mart” were written because of news I got through my feed sources. But this has its inherent disadvantages. I’m interested in way too many things. Most of these websites end up publishing over 20 articles (usually news tid-bits) a day. This ends up leaving way too much information for me to consume, increasing number of unread items everyday and last I checked, something I used to enjoy had become a chore. Last weekend, I started a massive reorganization. Here’s all I did in the space of a couple of hours.

• Created a new Google Account for SCM related feeds.
• Got rid of over 10 feeds that I hardly visited.
• Moved all my SCM/Supply Chain related feeds onto the new account.
• Organized remaining feeds into seven different categories: Workflow (8), Blogging Tips (2), Casual (9), Finance (4), Humor (2), Mobile (4) and Tech (7)
• The result is a grand total of 36 subscriptions (down from 50- something), organized into relevant buckets.

Also, as fodder for thoughts to use in this blog, I’ve started building a (massive) database of Supply Chain Related blogs on my new Google account. I like to think that I have the most comprehensive list of blogs in the field – but I continue to find newer ones everyday. For the moment, I’m focusing on blogs that are being updated regularly.

 

I’ve classified them into just 4 categories for the sake of simplicity. Company Blogs (9), Educational (1), Green (2) and Personal Blogs (20). I continue to add to this list of 32 subscriptions. I’ve also decided to use Feedly which is a magazine-styled feed reader to consume my Supply Chain feeds. It helps me be more efficient while consuming large amounts of information.

 

Apart from this, I’ve also joined the Kinaxis Supply Chain Community. If you’re a supply chain professional, I think this is a good place to share ideas about SCM. It has several of the industry’s key thinkers blogging and taking part in discussions. I’ve made it my browser’s start page so that the first few minutes every time I open my browser are spent contributing to discussions. I’ve also started using different browsers – so my personal stuff is on Google Chrome, while my Supply Chain websites, feeds and the like are open on Mozilla Firefox.

 

These are all small changes to my workflow and I’ve just tested them out a few days. But I’m noticing massive improvements in speed and efficiency already. I’m not getting bogged down by information overload and can concentrate and use the information better. Hope you found at least some of the information useful. Do let me know what you think. Do you want me to share more information like this in future? Or did you find this particularly irrelevant and uninteresting? Write to me.

Future of the "Supply Chain" in Management

Yesterday, I told you about the innovative concept of an online Supply Chain Conference. I also did tell you t hat I was going to review interesting topics in the coming few days. Here’s the first of such articles. This is about a discussion called “The Smarter Supply Chain of the Future”. The reason I chose this discussion was because of the issue in focus. We do not know how supply chains are going to morph in the future. Companies constantly experiment with new technologies like the “WalMart RFID” venture which is now being implemented in their stores as well. Some of these ideas work while some don’t. Yet, it is these ideas that are going to give shape to the “Supply Chain of the Future”. In this scenario, it helps to get an insight into what Supply Chain executives all around the world are thinking in terms of future directions of their supply chains.

 

The first part of the discussion focuses on an IBM survey about what Chief Supply Chain Officers (I wonder where the term came from. I haven’t seen it being used much myself) think are the key issues facing supply chains today. Based on this, the survey plots a ‘map’ that is supposed to lead your supply chain to become future-ready. This is useful folks!! Find the entire presentation embedded below.

Smarter Supply Chain Of Future - An IBM Survey

 

ISSUES The five biggest issues SCM Executives have pointed out (in order from most important to least) are

• Supply Chain Visibility This is by far the biggest concern of executives – and rightly so. Even today, after technology has advanced to the level where truly wondrous things can happen, our supply chains lack a streamlined model that will ensure complete visibility to all nodes of the supply chain. Sure, each company has its own approach to this problem. Wal-Mart’s Retail Link and One Network’s hosted solution are two different ways of tackling the same problem. A common goal requires a common solution. I wish one of the supply chain leaders would come forward and take the initiative to form a group that can work on an open-source data model that will provide real-time information about product movement across the supply chain.
• Risk Management Risk and SCM go hand in hand. The very mention of risk leads us to think about physical damage to goods and the like. More recently, economic and political concerns have become part of the definition of risk. I myself debated on “A new kind of supply chain risk” not too long ago.
• Increasing Customer Demands This is the topic that struck me as being ironic. We’re the ones pushing for an “always on” society where all consumer needs are ‘real-time’. In the case of information delivery, this need has been satisfied by the advent of new technology and the penetration of the internet. It is but natural that people come to expect increased speeds and reliability in product delivery too. Again… Common goal, common solution is what we’re looking for.
• Cost Containment Cutting costs has been on the mind of businesses forever. Today, we’re just looking at the problem differently and finding newer ways of cutting costs while maintaining product and process quality. Lean processes are being incorporated into more industries than we had ever imagined. Today, if you’re in the supply chain industry and ask “Who is Deming?”, you’re considered ignorant.
• Globalization A connected world is seldom a less complex world. Globalization presents a lot of practical challenges. While some companies have grown adept at tackling these problems (this might explain why globalization is at the bottom of the list), others are still struggling.

While looking at these issues and providing a roadmap to the future is a win for all, one thought whose importance simply cannot be overstated is that “Technology is a tool – a means to the end, not the end in itself.”

 

THE “SUPPLY CHAIN” IN MANAGEMENT Another important aspect about the future is going to be the importance of the “supply chain” in management as a whole. In the past, the sole goal of companies was to be profitable and make the most money for its owners. Somewhere down the line, they all started to care about their employees and how a company treated its employees became critical at least from a PR point of view. Today, companies have to balance a whole gamut of issues including being “Green”, efficiency, CSR, etc., This list is bound to grow in the future with “Supply Chains” becoming more important than ever to companies of the future.

Today, for the first time I came across the term CSCO (Chief Supply Chain Officer). This just restates to me the increasing importance supply chains are getting in today’s marketplace. The future is going to be even more complex. We know about the Digital Supply Chain. I think we’re just at the tip of the iceberg. There are other concepts that we’ll invent as we go along. Social Media in supply chains is one such. It certainly is an exciting time in the world of “supply chains” where the future is unknown yet anticipated. The only known fact is that “Future Supply Chains” will become more important in the context of management as a whole.

 

You can listen to the “SCM World Live” discussion from the comfort of your home too. You just need to register (for free) on their website. Let me know what you think about my perspective. Did you listen to the discussion too? What did you think about the conference – Sensation or sham?

Would you like me to cover specific topics in the future?

SCM World live - A new beginning in Supply Chain Conferences

Last month, I was notified by a good friend, of an extremely innovative approach to conducting a “Supply Chain” conference – a global conference where you get to share ideas with thousands of experts in SCM from the comfort of your desk and chair. While I would certainly like to know how many of you were aware of an event like this, I would also like to provide the rest of you key to a wealth of information about important topics in Supply Chain Management. This conference was organized by Rapture World on 24 Feb 2010. The event is called “SCM World Live”. I was amazed at the number of speakers, the sheer range of topics covered and the scale at which it was conducted. The website reports to over 3000 “supply chain” executives having attended the event from across the world. The website describes the event in these words

SCM World Live is the virtual supply chain conference for senior global supply chain, logistics, procurement and operations directors looking to share best practice and ideas around supply chain management, without having to travel to a physical supply chain conference. This unique virtual supply chain event allows senior global executives to network, learn and hear from leading supply chain experts, and get all the benefits of attending a physical supply chain conference, without the associated expense and time.

 

At least for me, it is one of those “Why didn’t I think of this?” kind of ideas. I’m pretty sure this is one of the first (if not “the first”) events to be conducted at this scale in Supply Chain Management. The best part is – the event is now available “on demand”. This means that if you’re cursing yourself right now for not attending this event, you can stop right away. You can listen to all the speakers by registering for free on the website. I think this is a great opportunity. I have registered myself on the website too. Over the next week or two, I will be writing about talks from the conference that I found interesting. Keep a watch for those articles on SCM Blog.

Twitter Stream: What is the difference between Logistics and Supply Chain Management?

Time for this week's Twitter Stream updates from SCM Blog. I come across a large number of useful links covering the various aspects of Supply Chain Management in my Twitter Stream. I try to share a few useful ones in these posts.


Today's post covers a wide variety of topics right from musings about what problems Social Media is solving for us to things your employees might be expecting from you that you don't know about. If you're on Twitter, you might also want to follow my tweets. You can also follow people in my twitter stream if you find the tweets useful. Thanks to those who are in my Twitter Stream for providing me useful posts every day of the week.

Twitter Stream #02


procurement What’s the Problem We Are Solving with Social X?http://bit.ly/dpBtIp #procurement

scm_tweets I see that Amazon doesn't pay tax in most states...even states they have offices in. So local small biz ends up subsidizing Amazon's biz.

procurement Logistics and Supply Chain Management, What is the Difference? http://bit.ly/aGeXqA #procurement

SCLBlog 

  

Applying ERP to the biomass supply chain - Environmental Expert (press release) http://bit.ly/acYdqU

sara_broca Eight Things Your Employees Want From You http://bit.ly/alekZQ #management

Do you like my Twitter Stream Updates? Give me feedback so that I can continue to improve the quality of content on this "Supply Chain" blog.

Disclaimer: The tweets themselves are property of the respective publishers whose profiles are linked from here.