Operational excellence
HP INC .
triggered strong improvements in the performance towards customers .
Some supply chains are more internal , however reaching out directly to customers helps HP to bring more external perspectives into the supply chain . For instance , managers in Schmitz ’ s team are all made an operational sponsor of a corporate account , which involves direct interaction with key customers to further improve the service provided to them .
Operational excellence
“ First and foremost we need to run an operation that is the best it can possibly be , and there are many ways you can look at this ,” Schmitz says .
A supply chain function will never operate at its best when not closely embedded into business processes and functions . It is key to be a reliable partner for internal stakeholders to deliver on their objectives such as revenue and market share . In addition , it is also about influencing other functions on programs which improve the end-to-end process , such as projects around forecast accuracy .
“ On the one hand we can judge by our success in the market , which proves we can deliver the 35 PCs every minute . But on top of that we need to look at how we deliver those 35 PCs – you could simply do it with a lot of firefighting , but we are firm believers in strong process management .”
This means drawing on a network of experts who own various processes in the supply chain . For each process HP has identified a process manager who is always looking for ways to improve , using all available metrics to make informed decisions . Automation is another area which is helping HP boost operational
86 March 2017