Straight to the Bottom Line: An Executive Roadmap to Improving Profitability Through Supply Transformation

By Robert A. Rudzki, Douglas A. Smock, Michael Katzorke, and Shelley Stewart Jr.

J. Ross Publishing, 2005

$39.95; 288 pages

ISBN: 1-932159-49-5

To order: visit www.jrosspub.com

Is your company still treating purchasing and supply management as a backwater part of the organization, relegated to beating down suppliers for a few more cents on the dollar? If so, then you're missing out on huge savings and operational efficiencies, as the companies profiled in Straight to the Bottom Line have clearly shown. And this is an impressive list of organizations. The book profiles Procter & Gamble's unrelenting focus on presenting "one face" to its suppliers. There's an in-depth look at the collaborative supplier techniques put in place at Chrysler Corp. Best practices implemented in a wide range of companies like United Technologies, Deere, Harley-Davidson, Lucent Technologies, and more are detailed. Importantly, all of these best practices are presented in way that spotlights the key "lessons learned" to the supply management professional.

It's this real-world grounding that makes the book so appealing. That perspective is not surprising given the background of the authors. Rudzki, Katzorke, and Stewart collectively have more than 60 years of procurement experience at leading companies such as Bayer Corp., Motorola, Honeywell, and Tyco. Doug Smock is the former chief editor of Purchasing magazine.

In addition to the highly relevant case examples, the authors lay out a practical framework for companies to achieve what the leaders have done — i.e., transform their supply management operations from transactional cost orientation to generators of real bottom-line performance. They lay out a logical framework, presented as a series of ten questions, to help companies determine their starting points on the supply management evolution. How you answer each of the questions helps prioritize the competency areas you need to address to make the supply management transition.

Straight to the Bottom Line succeeds on several important fronts. It succinctly spotlights best practices in supply management; it provides a clear roadmap for embarking on the supply management transformation; and it's written by and for the practitioner working in the real world. In short, it's a practical roadmap for companies really serious about elevating their purchasing and supply management operations.

The Resilient Enterprise: Overcoming Vulnerability for Competitive Advantage

By Yossi Sheffi

The MIT Press, 2005

$29.95, 316 pages

ISBN:0-262-19537-2

To order: visit www.mitpress.com.

In the world of physical science, resilience means the ability of a material to recover its original shape following a deformation. In the business world, it's the ability of a supply chain to bounce back and continue normal operations after high-impact, unanticipated disruption. The Resilient Enterprise is all about resilience in the latter context.

The events of 9/11 highlighted the sudden and dramatic disruptions than can impact not only supply chains, but every aspect of life and commerce. And if we needed any reinforcement of that reality, Hurricane Katrina, which happened just after this book was published, provided that with a vengeance.

Drawing from well-known and some not-so-well-known examples, author Yossi Sheffi details how various companies have responded to what he terms "high impact/low probability" supply chain disruptions. Some — like cellphone maker Ericsson — responded passively when a fire in the plant of its major chip supplier threatened to disrupt production. Others — like competitor Nokia — responded aggressively to that same disruption to ensure continued supply and thus continued production. The net result: Nokia was able to capture revenues and market share away from rival Ericsson.

Sheffi, a well-known supply chain thought leader and head of MIT's Center for Transportation and Logistics, lays out a clear case for taking the active role in assuring supply chain continuity, as he chronicles the many disruptions that can — and do — occur in today's global supply chains. He lays out a clear course of action that companies can pursue to prepare for disruptive events and minimize their impact. The seven-step plan put forth includes organizing for action; reducing the likelihood of disruptions; collaborating for security; building in redundancies; designing resilient supply chains; and investing in training and culture.

It's that last attribute, the author maintains, that is most difficult to develop because you're really talking about the "DNA" of an organization. But without the requisite culture — a culture that encourages innovation, flexibility, responsiveness — the best conceived plans for handling a disruption will never be effectively executed.

The Resilient Enterprise, perhaps sadly, one might argue, is a book for our times. But any professional tasked with keeping his or her supply chain running smoothly in the face of potentially devastating disruptions will find this book an invaluable resource.

Supply Chain Architecture: A Blueprint for Networking the Flow of Material, Information, and Cash

William T. Walker, CFPIM, CIRM

CRC Press, 2005

ISBN 1-57444-357-7

412 pages, $79.95

To order: visit www.crcpress.com

This book sets out an ambitious goal for itself: Explain the complex world of supply chain design by focusing on core business principles (the five "Vs": velocity, variability, vocalize, visualize, and value) and do so in the context of two fictionalized story lines running in parallel. It's a lot to comprehend, but Supply Chain Architecture shoulders through and presents much useful information on supply chain management in general and supply chain design in particular.

The book is replete with figures, tables, and charts (more than 200 in all) to convey the different approaches to supply chain design. Also included are instructive "top and bottom line" discussions on optimizing the network, maximizing the cash-to-cash cycle, and viewing supply chain risk management from a financial perspective.

This book is probably not for the casual reader looking for a quick overview of supply chain management. But if your main responsibility is supply chain design—or you seek an in-depth understanding of that topic—Supply Chain Architecture is a valuable and comprehensive resource.

Interested in assessing how good your warehousing operations are? Georgia Tech's Industrial and Systems Engineering Department has a free, online analysis system called iDEAS. The system is based on data envelopment analysis, which is explained in detail on the site. The system compares your existing warehouse to a "theoretically most efficient warehouse" developed from data about your operations. Users will need to input information such as labor hours, space, equipment investment, and the number of lines and items shipped. They will also have to answer questions about their company's attributes and practices. This information will remain confidential.

To access the online warehousing tool, visit www2.isye.gatech.edu/ideas.