Our scope of work is entirely flexible and scalable. We can augment your internal team and provide cost-effective assistance on an as needed basis or assign dedicated project management, engineering, analytical, and support staff to bring your supply chain, warehouse design, or distribution network planning project from data analysis and concept development through implementation, training, and acceptance testing.

Our product experience and skill sets include

PRODUCT Experience:

Grocery, Health & Beauty aids, Temperature Controlled Products (50-70o), Pharmaceuticals-over the counter/controlled, Appliances, Electronic Equipment, Beverage, Roll Clamp Paper, Tires, Hardware (nuts & bolts-faucets), School Uniforms (clothing) boxed/on hangers, Lawn & Garden Equipment, Beer, Cigarettes, Candy, Home Insulation, Roof Shingles, Fertilizer, Containers-empty cans / bottles-glass & plastic, Rugs, Advertising / Promotional Printed material, Footwear/Shoes, VHS Tapes, PC Games, Children Books, Home Fashion-Bed & Bath products, Trading Cards, Bar/Rod Steel, Wine, Computers, Bottled Water, Automotive Auto Parts/Supplies, Office Equipment (copiers, FAX’s, printers, furniture), Building Products (lumber, nails, screws, hardware), B2B & B2C case / bag products and the manufacturing of specialty food items.

Six Sigma Deployment

All Six Sigma proponents agree to the fact that the key to Six Sigma improvement success is the building up of an effective infrastructure. An effective infrastructure lays the foundation for the success of the organization in its implementation of Six Sigma. It is a known fact today that the success of Six Sigma lays on the projects selected and their link to the strategy of their organization. There have been enough publications on the selection of projects and the filters to be used for the prioritization of projects, however there are not enough details available on the building the key infrastructure for the deployment of Six Sigma.

When we discuss the building up of an implementation structure what we are embarking on is a project in itself, which follows the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) methodology:
D: Define the Strategic Direction of the organization
M: Set Measures for the strategic objectives of the organization
A: On a continual basis collect data on the measures set and analyse using Six Sigma tools and techniques
I: Identify the opportunities for improvement and convert them to Six Sigma projects for improvement
C: Set up a management control action of continuous reviews on the improvements made on the Six Sigma Projects

The objectives of the Define and Measure phase of this project are defined as below:

1. Building up a set of metrics for the organization that give definition to the organizations Vision

2. Metrics that are Integrated with the Strategic direction and objectives of the organization

3. Metrics that align people and work with their strategic objectives

4. Metrics that serve as effective means of communication for the organization both horizontally and vertically.

5. Metrics that provide insight needed for making decisions, setting direction and correcting course.

6. Metrics which will serve as a continuous source for identifying gaps in the organization and plugging them with Six Sigma Projects

The problem most organizations face in the phases of Define and Measure is how to build such an organizational dashboard, which will help achieve the objectives cited above.

 

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS

My overall functional responsibility was to plan for organizing facilities, operations technologies, services, business and professional activities and to educate people about the company mission.  A formal Business Plan, Marketing Plan and Operational Plan with a detailed goals setting program was implemented that carefully reflected the company vision/strategy and strengthened the employee and total infrastructure.  We literally built upon each prior accomplishment.  The third party and manufacturing industry is quick paced with strong emphasis on customer service.  You are only as good as your last positive order filled.  You always have to be quick at the start of implementation to ensure customer confidence.


COMMUNICATION  SKILLS

Communication is paramount in holding together public and contract business that was located in various cities throughout the United States.  Weekly teleconference calls with the Sales and Marketing group and the top three levels of the operating people are clearly the only way to ensure everyone heard the same successes and direction Committee meeting results so everyone could get a good insight to the Corporate input.  Formal documented reports were presented such as profit and loss statements, general ledger, operations planning, statistical process results, sales and marketing gains/losses and a review of systems development and customer interfaces.  This communication process led to a very disciplined and well-informed management team.

CONTRACT MANAGEMENT SKILLS

My working experience during the last forty years has been working within the third party logistics/manufacturing industry.  I have a variety of experiences as to how the user of third party managed their business, i. e. public, contract, cost plus, incentive structures, shared process improvement and several other variations of build to suit operational styles and on the manufacturing side; dollar inventory investment control, COGS, labor ratio’s, and sound accounting practices.  The many different types of customer I have worked with also had a variety of measurement tools they used to measure our performance as their third party provider.  Our business was based on building people relationships, which build confidence and respective growth.  It was always important to understand the make-up of the individual/company and develop commonly accepted goals to ensure proper requirements were being met to everyone’s satisfaction.  Many of the value added services we provided our clients helped to reduce their supply chain cost.   Gain sharing was an advantage of utilizing a third party company.

SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION SKILLS

I was fortunate to lead a study for a new WMS process.  We implemented this system parallel to the existing for thirty days, made several changes/enhancements to the system and then went on line.

As for other system interface relative to a corporate posture, the total marketing of a 3 PL was to represent all company affiliates to meet the users complete Supply Chain requirements – from raw materials supply chain management through finished goods distribution.  We focused on developing technology-based solutions for getting materials to the right place at the right time and for the right cost.  On one particular project, hundreds of vendors and retail destinations were involved requiring daily order/load organization throughout the United States using WMS, Manugistics, Caps Toolkit, our freight lines client and other carrier partners.  Customer systems (SAP, Baan, SSA and others) established a direct computer link with the order system and that information was fed into the Supply Chain Management System.  We build a system on the perfect order and expected 100% perfect orders.


The challenge today is to integrate the flow of material and the flow of data into a comprehensive strategy to achieve global marketing goals.  Find the disconnect and you find an opportunity for improvement.

CUSTOMER FOCUS

Often times as a third party provider, if you didn’t tell the customer, “What you have done for them lately” impressions/perceptions could wrongfully be developed.  To avoid this, monthly Board of Director reports for each customer at each facility were developed.  Statistical processes were tracked that the customer requested  and many were tracked on our own to ensure the customer  had an A to Z monthly review of our performance.  We worked and met with our customers on a quarterly basis to review progress, agree to gain sharing principles and how we could continue to improve.  Many times what was important to one customer was somewhat common with another.  This would allow a benchmarking of the “best case” and meet customer needs much quicker.  Each client organization had multiple management levels involved in the working process, which required varied communication skills to ensure we maintained a common approach to their solution.