Walk the floor…

Want to be a rock star Supply Chain Professional? Get away from your computer. That was a feedback I received almost 20 years ago, in my first job as a consultant after graduating with a Masters at NJIT. I had no clue what Supply Chain was, but realized it was a field that would always be needed to move the world’s economies. My perception of being a “smart” supply chain professional revolved around tools, technology and systems. Being a geek at heart, systems and technologies were a natural alignment for me.

My mentor at work who was a logistics professional told me something that had a profound impact on my career. “No one became a Rockstar Supply Chain Professional by sitting behind a computer. Supply Chain professionals have to walk the floor. You can’t run a supply chain if you haven’t understood the physical world that makes it happen. If you have never spent enough time on a floor (whether on the factory floor or a distribution floor or a retail floor or a back dock or even on a truck), you will never be able to fathom what it takes to run a supply chain. Nor can you advise others on how to improve or diagnose inefficiencies. The only way to understand how supply chains run is to understand the operational infrastructure of each node in the network by being on floor of plants, warehouses and yards meeting the workers, supervisors, and managers who make things happen, listening to them, understanding their problems and observing how they operate these facilities. Observe the processes critically and you will find many hidden process improvements and innovative projects therein. Not all transformational projects have to be digital. There is enough operational improvements your supply chain needs. And they could be as simple as adding a ‘step stool’ to your trucks or as sophisticated as increasing racking and automation in your floor space.

And the results that I got when I actually followed the advise, were amazing- I could see so many opportunities to leverage, improve and transform using process improvements and technologies as a result of those walks….

Even today when operational challenges present themselves, I can picture exactly what maybe happening, but I don’t hesitate to get out there.

So give your computer (I forget today it is mostly a laptop) some rest. Go observe…learn…and appreciate the best way to learn while getting paid……