Feature Article
Logistics – The Green Frontier
Are you struggling to develop sustainability strategies that offer a real competitive advantage for your company? Want to contribute to your bottom line and employ solutions solving both the opportunity of generating more “greenbacks” and greening the planet? Why not focus on one of your largest cost drivers, that being the area of Logistics.
A simple answer is to re-engineer your transportation network to take advantage of the most cost effective lane segments. But wait, that may not be best for being able to deliver against your customer commitments. How about shifting your stocking strategy from a decentralized network to one of a more centralized nature? Oh, can’t do that either because you won’t have the product where you need it, when you need it, to meet service requirements. Sorry but the answer to greening the Logistics network is not simple. There’s no silver bullet, no one solution that will meet every company’s objectives.
The opportunity is to be smart about how you design your network taking into consideration various characteristics about your products, your service requirements, deployment methods and your partner’s capabilities and value propositions. Success requires the deployment of various analytics, what-if analysis and trade-offs but the opportunity justifies the investment of time, effort and resources. Those that deploy such analysis, and make the commensurate decisions, are able to achieve the best balance of action, investment and result. Those choosing a one-size-fits-all approach are missing out on the opportunity to save money, save carbon and improve their customer’s experience and corporate sustainability.
If you’re in the business of managing the movement and deployment of products and you’re searching for ways to reduce cost, carbon and improve your corporate sustainability then consider the experts at ASIL, Inc. ASIL, Inc. consultants are Logistics and Supply Chain professionals with over 100 years experience in various Supply Chain roles. We are adept at understanding our client’s logistics and supply chain architectures and can provide you valuable insights into those methods best deployed to achieve your sustainability objectives. We have a proven track record of pragmatic solutions and welcome the opportunity to serve you and your clients. Call us today and let us help you achieve new areas of profitability and success in this ever changing economic and world climate.
Contributed by Warren White
October Spotlight
The Dreaded Staff Meeting
Whether it is weekly, monthly, quarterly, or even impromptu, no doubt that you have all participated in some sort of a staff meeting during your career. Have you ever thought that there must be a more productive way to utilize your time? Likely, you have experienced the infamous staff meeting aka Seven 1 on 1s. It is a serially based meeting that has one common element, the boss as the centerpiece.
Leaders, at times, lose perspective about the valuable nature of the time spent together. It becomes more of a report update to them. People take time to prepare information to be shared and then get into a one way conversation with the leader during the meeting. They can also be locked into an approach that stifles creativity and innovation.
Why should you care? The cost of lost productivity is enormous. Consider a group of people coming together on a regular basis to exchange something in hopes that it will further something else. The "somethings" are information, experiences, ideas, recommendations, status updates, and more. The challenge is to be able to sift through the many to find the precious few, and to keep the link going to all required parties.
How do you make the leap of change? You need to recognize that a different approach could be healthy and uplifting. Try having others on the staff run the staff meeting instead of the boss. Allow for certain routine topics and then provide for some variation. Use the meeting to build and challenge consensus. Avoid turning it into updating the boss.
Six tips to consider in leading a healthier staff interaction:
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Be purposeful: The purpose of your meetings should always be clear.
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Be thoughtful: Consider the involvement of others and their benefit.
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Be respectful: Respect the contributions and commitment from each participant.
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Be fruitful: Let dialogues flourish, nurture ideas and encourage risk taking.
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Be mindful: Set limits and manage time, we all have other activities.
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Be in the moment: Turn off the distractions and make your focus now.
A measure of success for staff meetings can be seen in the level of active participation and follow through. Do you see your staff meeting as an opportunity to create? If the boss can’t make it today, should you reschedule? No way, this is about the team. Make the staff meeting less about the leader and more about the team. Old habits can be hard to change, but when they do change they deliver $ to the bottom line!
The professionals at ASIL, Inc. are skilled in aligning business to perform. We believe it is essential to have clarity of leadership and definition of direction. Give us a call to get your organization on the road to success.
Contributed by Peter Pazmany
Industry Trends
Three Tiers of Sustainability
Many organizations are ramping up their sustainability programs to meet the growing demand of their customers and stakeholders. The struggle with some of these efforts is trying to run before learning to walk. Organizations need a vision, clear path for their journey, and performance in order to have success in meeting their sustainability goals. The challenge is identifying the steps and measuring their progression, in performance success and attaining financial goals, towards sustainability.
In 2008, The Future Laboratory produced a ranking system for the different levels of sustainability being achieved by organizations. This was called the Three Tiers of Sustainability. The tiers show progressive levels of growth and maturity in the journey to implement sustainability in organizations.
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Tier 1: Getting the basics right
This is the base level and is the stage in which the majority of organizations are now. Companies employ simple measures such as switching lights and PCs off when left idle, recycling paper, and using greener forms of travel with the purpose of reducing the day-to-day carbon footprint. Some companies also employ self-service technologies such as centralized procurement and teleconferencing.
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Tier 2: Learning to think sustainably
This is the second level, where companies begin to realize the need to embed sustainability into supply chain operations. Companies tend to achieve this level when they assess their impact across a local range of operations. In terms of the supply chain, this could involve supplier management, product design, manufacturing rationalization, and distribution optimization.
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Tier 3: The science of sustainability
The third tier of supply chain sustainability uses auditing and benchmarks to provide a framework for governing sustainable supply chain operations. This gives clarity around the environmental impact of adjustments to supply chain agility, flexibility, and cost in the supply chain network. Moving towards this level means being driven by the current climate (in which companies recognize cost savings through green operations as being significant), as well as pushing emerging regulations and standards at both an industry and governmental level.
As organizations progress through the tiers, they become more and more atune to the environment and how they can attain effective, sustainable impacts while enjoying profit margin growth.
Where are you in your tiered journey? The staff at ASIL, Inc. has a broad range of experience in identifying and implementing sustainability opportunities. Give us a call for help in moving your business though the tiers of sustainability.
Contributed by Michael Singleton
Our Software Products
Click on the links below to view ASIL, Inc.'s MAX Partnering® self paced software demonstrations:
Strategies and Execution - This demo depicts the tools that organizations can utilize to embrace change effectively and implement it successfully.
Self Assessment Sample Questionnaire
- This demo will enable you to respond to a small sample of self
assessment questions focused on change management and create a Heat Map
of your responses to see areas that may need attention. The Driving
Complex Change® methodology addresses the six areas of Direction,
Ability, Incentive, Resources, Structure, and Action that can impact
your effectiveness of change management.
 This Newsletter is delivered in electronic format to reduce our carbon footprint. If you must print it, please recycle.
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Change Happens
Are you ready?
Click here to read the first four chapters of Driving Complex Change®.
After you've read Driving Complex Change chapters one through four, click here to generate your own Change Readiness heat map based on the Driving Complex Change® methodology.
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Partner
How To Become An ASIL Partner
Can
ASIL help you to increase the value proposition of your customer
offerings? ASIL partners with leading companies that offer
complimentary services to provide customers with a complete solution.
Join the growing network of ASIL Partners and gain a competitive
advantage today!
Click HERE to find out more about partnering with ASIL, Inc.
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Key Term
Supply Chain Sustainability - is a business opportunity affecting an organizations's supply chain or logistics network in terms of environmental, risk, and waste costs. Sustainability in the supply chain is increasingly seen among high-level executives as essential to delivering long-term profitability and has replaced monetary cost, value, and speed as the dominant topic of discussion among purchasing and supply professionals.
Source: Wikipedia
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ASIL, Inc.
2901 Tasman Dr., Suite 117
Santa Clara, CA 95054
Phone : (408) 980-9904
Toll Free : (888) 878-2745
email : sales@asil-inc.com
www.asil-inc.com
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