Tag: agility

Guest Post: How Agility Helped Supply Chains Survive 2020


Our Guest Post comes from Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, VP of Industry Outreach and Thought Leadership at Kinaxis (at https://www.kinaxis.com/en)

Pop quiz: What disrupted supply chains more in 2020, supply or demand?

I posed this question at the start of the many virtual guest lectures I gave to classes in 2020 to illustrate that supply chains are not all the same, but that regardless agility was sure to be a key factor in response.

Some students chose demand, having experienced bare grocery shelves. Some answered supply, thinking of shutdowns in China. I shared stories from customers of the supply chain management software company where I work to illustrate the variation along with the common thread of agility.

Demand skyrocketed for some consumer packaged goods, but less obvious were spikes in other
industries. Biopharmaceutical company Ipsen didn’t anticipate demand shifts, since they make
specialty drugs for oncology, neurology, and rare diseases, but they experienced erratic
increases. A high-tech customer saw demand drop precipitously, but no one foresaw the move
to working from home, which then drove their demand through the roof. In contrast industries
like automotive, aerospace, and apparel saw demand disappear.

Most companies felt supply disruptions, from their own production shutdowns or their
suppliers. Lead times increased, some suppliers were temporarily (or permanently unavailable),
and sourcing new suppliers wasn’t easy. Distance made quality and cybersecurity harder to
manage. And some companies were whipsawed by both demand and supply.

The ability to anticipate disrupted demand, quickly substitute supply nodes, and readjust
balance was critical. Scenario planning usage took off as companies sought to rebalance by
making the best decisions for their entire supply chain, not just by the functional silos of
demand, supply, inventory, etc. Planning cycles shortened from weeks to days. Agility was
critical to survival, which is why agility is one of 3 reasons supply chains can’t afford to wait to invest in building this muscle now.

OM in the News: Manufacturers Pivot to Fulfill an Urgent Need

Headline after headline, we are seeing a wide array of manufacturers embark on major pivots away from their daily offerings to produce an array of products out of necessity. Ventilators, masks, gowns, shields. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to creep along, the list of products continues to grow. The pivots these organizations are embarking upon are not easy. They require strengths that do not always see the spotlight including a skilled workforce, diverse supply chain, a culture that thrives when facing adversity and strategic investments in technology, writes IndustryWeek (April 23, 2020).

As one Rockwell Automation exec explains: “This type of shift is possible only when operations have been designed and set up for agility.  It is dependent on tools and processes for supply chain planning, availability of materials and people, product lifecycle management, product specifications management, plant configuration flexibility, the flexibility of the manufacturing and equipment, quality control regimens, and tracking and tracing components the product is made up of.” With any new product comes new processes, a heightened importance for these processes to be closely followed, and the need to quickly adapt and scale best practices.

Here are 3 examples of successful pivots: At Naturepedic, expert sewers, together with 3D printing technology, allowed the firm to quickly pivot and produce face masks from organic cotton fabric that was used in the manufacturing of organic mattresses. Abundant 3D printers allowed CMD to pivot from plastic bag production to make the parts for face shields. Previous product development in healthcare gave Vecna Technologies a strong foundation in product development, rapid prototyping, and responsiveness to healthcare needs to quickly produce a ventilator.

Classroom discussion questions:

  1. How has the pandemic altered the product development stages in Figure 5.3 of your Heizer/Render/Munson text?
  2. How is 3D printing becoming an important OM tool?