state Archives - Supply Chain Institute

As part of the Supply Chain Management: Beyond the Horizon research project, faculty and staff from the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University conducted in-depth interviews with a number of organizations to gain insights into the development and implementation of various supply chain strategies, practices, and processes.

The focus was intentionally on the future and on identifying what challenges are driving supply chain decisions in the current environment. The following report summarizes key findings from our investigation of supply chain complexity and risk management obtained during our visit to VF Corporation.

BACKGROUND

VF Corporation is a global branded apparel company that focuses on lifestyle clothing, footwear, and accessories. Since its inception in 1899 as a glove and mitten manufacturer, the firm has grown, diversified, and reinvented itself multiple times. Today, its 30 brands are organized into five coalitions or loose confederations that include outdoor and action sports, jeanswear, imagewear, sportswear, and contemporary brands. The firm has approximately 64,000 employees, sales of $12.4 billion (2015), and a consistent track record of annual sales and earnings growth. The firm is highly diversified across brands, products, distribution channels, and geographies, which provides a strong competitive advantage relative to single- brand competitors.

Because of its focus on lifestyle brands, the firm must remain focused on its consumers and their evolving behaviors and preferences. The firm has four key components in its business strategy:

Lead in innovation (drive new products and new technologies to support evolving consumer needs and tastes)

Connect with consumers (engage consumers in new and meaningful ways)

Serve consumers directly (reach consumers across multiple channels, wherever and whenever they want)

Expand geographically (take advantage of scale to reduce risk and drive competitive advantage)

Read more at Supply Chain Complexity and Risk Management

What do you think about this topic? Share your comments below and subscribe us to get updates.

Facebook

Twitter

In exploring AGCO’s success with implementing a global supply chain risk management (SCRM) program, we can summarize our key recommendations to other manufacturers and services oriented companies in 10 tips:

Start to engage with solution providers – Try them out, start to inflict the pain of visibility on your internal stakeholders, teach your organization to act with many blinders removed and adopt a more strategic level of thinking.

Solutions are in a state of flux – Early adopters will likely have to go through radical changes in their programs as this industry matures, but this is preferable to remaining on the sidelines, getting stuck deeper in the old ways.

Heuristics will make a big difference over time – Both in helping to eliminate false positives and also in identifying real issues with greater precision. Aggregated metadata from your third parties, combined with other big data sets, all processed in real time, will drive a change toward solutions that not only show what your supply base looks like but also helps manage risk scenarios and develop mitigation plans of action.

A picture is worth a 1,000 conference calls – Think of a map, showing all your major internal and external business relationships (manufacturing facilities, warehouses and distribution facilities, logistical paths, suppliers and their suppliers, etc.). This simple illustration can quickly rally stakeholders around a common cause.

Good SCRM analysis requires good data – Don’t skimp on the prep work. You know that sooner or later you do need to get to a clean master data management understanding, as well as item level PO analysis. You also need to fully assess your key suppliers and their immediate supply base and product lifecycles. This is a good time to start on that journey.

Read more at 10 Tips For Getting Started With Global Supply Chain Risk Management Programs