GOOD QUESTION | What’s one supply chain myth you’d like to debunk?

GOOD QUESTION | What’s one supply chain myth you’d like to debunk?

Myth: Reducing labor costs is the best way to improve a supply chain operation. Much bigger gains can be made in reducing total supply chain cost by improving service levels and reducing lead times.

Amy Sartain
Director of Business Development
Sunland Logistics Solutions


Myth: A high-volume transportation spend results in lower costs. Overall, we do see organizations with larger spends trending at lower transportation rates. But outside of rare conditions, it is not due to a pure volume game. It’s due to having the right levels of technology, information, and experience.

Derek Browning
Director
LeanCor Supply Chain Group


Myth: Supply chain management is a boring career working in a distribution center. The truth is that outside of medicine, supply chain employees are the only people that can positively impact customers’ lives daily.

Joe Walden
Lecturer, Supply Chain Management
The University of Kansas


Myth: You need an engineering degree to succeed in supply chain management. Skill requirements (in addition to analytical and process thinking) include communication, collaboration, negotiation, and leadership.

Lamar Johnson
Senior Associate Director
Texas McCombs Supply Chain Management Center



Myth: No other organization has the challenges we have. On average I visit 50 logistics organizations each year and hear this often. Logistics organizations experience similar challenges. Realizing this fact is empowering; so is talking with professionals who have overcome similar issues.

Robert O’Dwyer
Logistics Industry Principal
Kronos


Myth: The supply chain is one-dimensional or static. The supply chain is ever-changing, dynamic, and the backbone of any company that makes or moves a product, delivers a service, or fulfills an order.

Michael Notarangeli
Executive Vice President, Logistics
Maine Pointe


Myth: Functional leaders only need to be skilled and proven. Today’s leaders must take it to the next level. It’s critical to leverage big data, process improvements, and management skills to navigate our complex world of technology advancements.

Mark McEntire
Senior Vice President, Operations Transplace


Myth: Monitoring trailer location via GPS device in a tractor provides valuable information. In actuality, it does not provide any information regarding the freight in a shipment and it is often misleading as to where the specific shipment is actually located.

Jerry Robertson
Chief Technology Officer
BOLT System


Myth: Asset carriers typically provide lower rates than 3PLs to service the same lane. There are approximately 800,000 for-hire carriers in the country, with approximately 90% of those carriers having 6 trucks or fewer. By incorporating technology and leveraging its large portfolio of carrier partners, 3PLs are able match shipper’s freight with available capacity in a scenario that benefits both parties.

McLean Palmer
SVP of Operations
Ascent Domestic


Myth: The only real measurable value of supply chain improvement is cost reduction. Companies need to take a more holistic view. By taking a Total Value Optimization approach you can go beyond the traditional cost drivers of supply chain management and focus on finding and accelerating the value drivers for cost, cash, and growth across the entire buy-make-move-fulfill supply chain.

Simon Knowles
Chief Marketing Officer
Maine Pointe


Myth: It’s OK to underestimate the importance of last-mile delivery. Companies face many supply chain challenges, including an increasing demand for quick delivery, a fragmented and non-standard delivery universe, and a need for a multi-modal driver network. A more intelligent and driver-centric platform which matches driver capability with each shipment will solve these supply chain issues and implement a more effective last-mile delivery system.

Tom Fiorita
Founder & CEO
Point Pickup Technologies


Myth: Heavily automated operations are always better. Automation expenses can require significant volume to economically justify and create inflexible processes. Given optimized information systems and appropriate mechanized resources, well-trained teams with motivational leadership can often be competitive with their more automated competition.

Rex Beck
Professor, Business Logistics Management
Norco College


Have a great answer to a good question?

Be sure to participate next month. We want to know:

What’s the most neglected part of the supply chain?

We’ll publish some answers. Tell us at [email protected] or tweet us @ILMagazine #ILgoodquestion

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