William Crane
William Crane is the CEO of IndustryStar, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based supply chain software company that empowers leaders to enhance supply performance more quickly for greater company agility, profitability and impact.
From this author
Supply chain and sustainability are two sides of the same coin. A standard teaching practice within supply chain is “lean thinking” that advocates for minimalist, one-piece flow to the tune of an ever-present waste reduction drumbeat. Unfortunately, this drumbeat isn’t always heard. The prevalence of waste in far-reaching corners of supply chains is in large part due to the sheer global scale of many manufacturers.
Simply put, the end-to-end automotive value chain...
As Peter Drucker famously said, “If you can’t measure it you can’t manage it.” Today, technology tools enable real-time collection and analysis of near endless amounts of big data throughout the value chain. This, coupled with our exponentially growing data, offers an exciting new frontier for which the supply chain is uniquely positioned to unlock hidden waste.
Our technology-enabled productivity push is poised to reduce costs, improve quality and compress...
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in the required virtual supply chain work across companies. Aside from the pandemic, teams workingvirtually is a macro trend that newer generations making up a growing portion of the workforce expect. Looking ahead, if supply chain leaders want to attract and retain the best and brightest talent, they will need to facilitate work in new and different ways.
One...
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and 2020 recession are creating new stresses and disruptions in the global supply chain that are now presenting themselves. In today‘s hyperconnected economies, the response to supply chain risk has primarily been “reactive”. Traditional, “cost down” sourcing efforts often amplify and expedite supply chain risk (e.g., moving contracts from a troubled supplier, delaying supplier payments, competitive bidding, etc.) Existing...
Launching an all new product ahead of your competition can determine long term market share and resulting profitability. Sourcing professionals have an amazing opportunity to increase the pace at which their companies bring new products to market by condensing the source-to-pay (S2P) process.
In the previous article, we discussed how...
Let’s face it — many of our company’s functions still operate largely in silos as we batch our work together to then throw it over the wall to the next team in the value chain. Much lip service has been dedicated to catchy buzzwords like “agile” and “collaborative new product development.” Unfortunately, these newer ways of working together remain largely untapped.
As sourcing professionals, this leaves us to receive a flood of drawings from...
