Chapter 7: Week Five: Initiating AS IS Material Flow and Steering Team Review Number Two - Supply Chain Excellence [Electronic resources] : A Handbook for Dramatic Improvement Using the SCOR Model نسخه متنی

Chapter 7: Week Five: Initiating AS IS Material Flow and Steering Team Review Number Two

Transition from analysis to action.

Week Five marks the close of the information gathering and analysis phase of the SCOR project life cycle and bridges to the third phase supply chain design. Specifically, the design team will launch the AS IS material flow analysis for logistical types. It's usually the most interesting part of the project with the biggest potential for improvement. The objectives for the week are to complete the supply chain opportunity summary including the SCORcard gap analysis, and initiate the AS IS material flow, including learning about SCOR Level Two classifications—raw material, work in progress, finished goods, or return; and make to stock, engineer to order, and make to order. Another objective is the assembly of a more detailed view of material flow. Lastly, the team needs to prepare and conduct the second steering team review.

Validating Gap Analysis and Preparing Steering Team Review Number Two

The first agenda item for Day One is for each assigned subteam to review its SCORcard gap analysis and validation effort, including revised assumptions, calculations, and validation resources. The entire design team must ask enough questions to achieve consensus on the value of each metric and on the total opportunity calculated on the SCORcard.

The second agenda item is to identify the design team members who will make presentations in the second steering team review. The third and final agenda item is to prepare and conduct a dry run prior to the steering team review.

The SCORcard gap analysis, combined with the business context summary and project charter (Appendixes B and C), establishes the overall business case for a strategic effort of continuous supply chain improvement.

The agenda for the steering team review included:

Project roadmap status

Review consolidated competitive requirements by supply chain

Review enterprise and product group SCORcards (Tables 6-1-6-3)

Gap analysis and opportunity summary results

Set expectations for steering team review number three

In preparation for the steering team review at Fowlers, the validation effort ultimately did not change the numbers or assumptions. But the process did reveal some change-management stages that would have to occur. The careful resource planning of the subteams for each SCORcard and the key validation resources helped to manage the length of these stages in advance.

Change Management: Dealing with Denial

In the first stage, reactions are predictable as the design team's work spreads through the organization: The numbers are wrong; we aren't that bad.

The technology and food products business teams, when presented with the SCORcard gap analysis, reacted predictably; they challenged the numbers. This happens in almost all projects. That's why it's important to have business leaders from each of the product groups present to explain the data and review the validation resources. This builds confidence that the numbers are, in fact, reliable and quickly puts the focus on the issues.

Change Management: Placing Blame

The second-stage reaction is to allocate blame, which is easier than taking responsibility for the results. Positioning design team members to share their personal perspectives on the gap analysis, and to review competitive performance facts, helps accelerate business unit leaders through this stage and moves them beyond the convenient catch-all phrase: "But we're unique."

Change Management: Book the Numbers

The third reaction is to confuse acceptance of the analysis with actually having solved the problem. Agreeing on the opportunity does not improve anything. At this point, the business team is excited at the value of improving supply chain performance; based on benchmarks and competitive requirements, the numbers can add up fast. But it's too soon to start booking the savings in corporate forecasts and memos to the board. The real value of change will show up as part of the next phase.

In closing out Phase II, the Fowlers project team accomplished a couple important points. First, they really learned that the main goal of the SCORcard analysis and validation effort is to manage change, not just to complete a deliverable. Second, they successfully transferred knowledge; the validation sources needed to learn and the design team needed to teach.