In these teams, we find defectors from production, purchasing, foreign
language specialists, finance, or even like me, lost electronics
engineers…
The plurality of profiles is a richness for the Supply Chain team – it
facilitates the interaction with the other functions of the company –
if you have production experience you are more legitimate and relevant
to put some pressure on your partners in the workshop, and to find
solutions with them.
The downside is that there may be a lack of technical knowledge about
the best supply chain practices to implement. In some companies, the
supply chain is thought to be just common sense – so if you have common
sense and a little desire to deal with the stress of everyday life,
come and join us!
I did this at the beginning of my career: coming from a technical
background, I found myself doing supply chain in my first factory,
without any other theoretical background. I tried to learn from my
peers and to read a little, but frankly, with hindsight, I fumbled a
lot and made some big mistakes.
After four years of practice, I was lucky enough that my employer at the time enrolled me in a certification course, the CPIM of APICS (now ASCM). The training was demanding, and very rich, but brought me a lot:
- A common vocabulary, which facilitated interactions with other teams and sites in the company,
- Knowledge sharing and benchmarking with other training participants: “How do you do your S&OP?”
- More confidence in my operational practice, following a recognized framework – the MRP2 model
The contribution of these pieces of training for me has been undeniable. The fact that I had to pass the certification is also key – not because of the recognition it brings with a badge on LinkedIn, but because it forced me to work, to dig into the subject, and to ask myself questions.
I can only encourage you to get out of your operational urgencies and take a step back through education because it is the adaptation of methodologies that allows for process improvement and the delivery of operational results.
The difficulty you may encounter is that supply chain certification training products have proliferated in recent years. What’s more, these courses often refer to a school of thought. We should do it this way and not that way. MRP, Lean 6 Sigma, Theory of Constraints, Demand Driven – so many schools of thought that sometimes border on belief, and which have their supporters and detractors. Formats have also evolved, with online offerings without physical meetings.
Recommendations to guide you in selecting training content and enriching your course:
- Whatever the training you follow, exercise your critical sense, the first quality in the supply chain (in addition to common sense, of course)
- You need to know the fundamentals of MRP, simply because it is at the heart of current ERP systems, and current practices in many companies. Like many, I think that MRP has never been sufficient and is more and more inadequate, but to make it evolve, you have to know it well.
- Learn pull flow techniques – Lean, TOC, and of course, the Demand Driven Institute content. Do it via courses, books, simulations, experimentation, and operational practice. There is a lot of material available, stand on the shoulders of the giants who have explored these areas, Shigeo Shingo, Taiichi Ohno, Eli Goldratt, John Shook, Carol Ptak, Chad Smith, and others. Do not oppose each other – think “how to blend all this content?”.
- Select trainers who are pragmatic, who have strong
operational experience, and who will not try to sell you a dogma or
software. (See http://www.psq.co.za/education.html)
- If you can, take certifications – it allows you to dig deeper and understand the subject.
- Meet other supply chain practitioners, in fields other than
your own. Compare your practices. Use best practice guidelines.
Constantly challenge yourself. (See https://conference.sapics.org/2023-delegates/)
- And above all: experiment, learn from your mistakes, keep learning, and encourage experimentation and continuous improvement within your teams. Never be certain; be curious, and keep learning!