Supply Chain Management 7

Supply Chain Management. A collection of resources and commentary providing an introduction to supply chain management and related systems for students, practitioners, and anyone else interested in learning more about how to design, manufacture, transport, store, deliver, and manage products. Tuesday, February 21, 2012. 20% of the product families represent 80% of the inventory 20% of the suppliers represent 80% of the global amount of purchase 20% of the defects cause 80% of the problems 20% of articles generate 80% of the sales turnover 20% of your customers generate 80% of the revenue. Step 1: Identify and List Problems Firstly, write a list of all of the problems that you need to resolve. Where possible, talk to clients and team members to get their input, and draw on surveys, helpdesk logs and suchlike, where these are available. Step 2: Identify the Root Cause of Each Problem For each problem, identify its fundamental cause. (Techniques such as Brainstorming, the 5 Whys, Cause and Effect Analysis, and Root Cause Analysis will help with this.) Step 3: Score Problems Now you need to score each problem. The scoring method you use depends on the sort of problem you're trying to solve. For example, if you're trying to improve customer satisfaction, you might score them on the basis of the number of complaints eliminated by solving the problem. Step 4: Group Problems Together by Root Cause Next, group problems together by cause. For example, if three of your problems are caused by lack of staff, put these in the same group. Step 5: Add up the Scores for Each Group You can now add up the scores for each cause group. The group with the top score is your highest priority, and the group with the lowest score is your lowest priority. Step 6: Take Action Now you need to deal with the causes of your problems, dealing with your top-priority problem, or group of problems, first. Keep in mind that low scoring problems may not even be worth bothering with - solving these problems may cost you more than the solutions are worth.