Capability #3: Creating Material & Information Flow

Capability #3: Creating Material & Information Flow

To develop a Lean Resilient Supply Chain 7 key capabilities must be mastered by Chief Supply Chain Officers.

The 3rd capability is the Capability of Creating Material & Information Flow.

Previously we talked about the pull planning system, but we have to also implement a material and information flow. A physical material flow and an information flow are needed to create speed and facilitate the Demand Driven Pull Planning Process.

As a Design Rule designing a Flow comes 1st, only then we look at Resource Efficiency.

If we focus on eliminating waiting of materials and waiting of information we will be creating flow, we will be moving from low flow efficiency to high flow efficiency.

Once we have designed high Flow Efficiency, we can move up (see graph in slides) to Resource Efficiency, looking at the other wastes such as people waiting, people movement, overprocessing, and errors and defects.

An example from daily life (see the book “This is Lean”) shows the case of a sportsman who feels a pain in the heart and wants to have a diagnosis, maybe he goes to a clinic to do some exams and goes through several processes, let´s call it “Isolated Resource Efficient Islands”. And this can take up to 30 days: you book each exam and then wait for the consultation. Why? because all needed resources are organized for Resource Efficiency (not Flow Efficiency).

If he goes to an integrated heart health clinic and in 4 hours you can do all the exams and consultations needed, then this can be lifesaving and a breakthrough for you the Customer.

The file 7 KEY CAPABILITIES for a Supply Chain Lean Transformation outlines the process for Creating Material & Information Flow.

In our next post we will talk about Capability #4 Increasing Resource Efficiency

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