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Humility is a fundamental trait essential for Supply Chain excellence.
Companies at the forefront of pursuing supply chain excellence have developed ‘Humility’ as a differentiating and a fundamental trait in their teams. This is in line with the TOC pillar of ‘Never Say I Know’.
How does humility manifest in supply chain planning and execution?
Let’s start from the demand side. Conventional companies run their supply chains on aggregate monthly forecasts, as if they knew what the consumers were going to buy. Moreover, they are reluctant to change these forecasts.
On the other hand, humble ones listen to what the market is telling them in terms of actual consumer purchases. Their supply chains are Demand Driven instead of Forecast Driven. When they must predict near-term demand for the Replenishment Lead Time, they are open to frequent mid-course corrections as more market data comes in. The field of Demand Sensing has originated to fulfil this specific need of humble supply chains.
If you are still using aggregate monthly forecasts to run your supply chain, it’s time to get humble and move to Demand Driven Supply Chain. You will be amazed by the results…