SCM assessment tools

Operational innovations fuel extraordinary results. (However) operational innovation is rare. By my estimate, no more than 10 percent of large enterprises have made a serious and successful effort at it. 

The quotation above provides reengineering expert Michael Hammer s view of the need for operational improvement. Certainly, these operational improvements include supply chain processes, and our own observation would support Hammer s position that creativity and execution are indeed lacking. One obstacle is the inability to look beyond budgetary cost controls to link supply chain operations with the strategies we use to improve competitive position. The purpose of this chapter is to describe assessment tools to make these links. We cover three types of assessment tool, each of which has a dedicated section in this chapter  

Market and product environment. What kind of markets are we pursuing What kind of products are we delivering to those markets  

Internal process and organization. What is the state of our current supply chain infrastructure Are the efforts to improve it appropriate and sufficient  

SCM capability. How well prepared are we to move ahead with what we need to do Do we have the necessary skills to reach higher levels of performance  

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SCM Assessment Tools The supply chain and the product life cycle Model for classifying supply chain improvement projects SCM maturity matrices... 

Besides conceptual contributions about supply chain performance measurement configurations and the operationalisation of value drivers, academic efforts have generated methodic-instrumental quantification attempts. Wildemann (2004), for example, presents a tool that allows the assessment of logistical performance and costs within the supply chain. Based on a benchmark of over 500 companies the tool identifies potential which can be raised by SCM. In doing so, he uses an estimation... 

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