Worked in two factories since Covid. The first stockpiled components we produced in house, and relied in JIT logistics for external components. Which was basically the stupidest arrangement they could have cone up with. They had 10+ years worth of parts they could make in house, clogging up their warehouse. And couldn’t ship anything because they were waiting on suppliers.
The other built two new warehouses to stockpile external supplies, and never let up on production.
Yeah, if you ever need stories on just how stupid senior managers can be, look at supply-chain case studies. And don’t blame the accountants: it’s their job to report costs, but it’s the job of the managers to deal with risk. And running ultra-lean JIT comes with the risk that a five-minute delay in delivery of some critical component can shut down your line. It’s not the beancounters’ job to have appropriate plans in place to prevent that from happening. It’s the biz-school bell-ends who are asleep at the wheel or thinking that they’ll just pretend there’s no risk and hope they’re lucky enough to translate those low running costs into their quarterly bonuses. And the contingency planning if the supply chain does glitch? Often it goes no deeper than having a scapegoat lined up.
Worked in two factories since Covid. The first stockpiled components we produced in house, and relied in JIT logistics for external components. Which was basically the stupidest arrangement they could have cone up with. They had 10+ years worth of parts they could make in house, clogging up their warehouse. And couldn’t ship anything because they were waiting on suppliers.
The other built two new warehouses to stockpile external supplies, and never let up on production.
Yeah, if you ever need stories on just how stupid senior managers can be, look at supply-chain case studies. And don’t blame the accountants: it’s their job to report costs, but it’s the job of the managers to deal with risk. And running ultra-lean JIT comes with the risk that a five-minute delay in delivery of some critical component can shut down your line. It’s not the beancounters’ job to have appropriate plans in place to prevent that from happening. It’s the biz-school bell-ends who are asleep at the wheel or thinking that they’ll just pretend there’s no risk and hope they’re lucky enough to translate those low running costs into their quarterly bonuses. And the contingency planning if the supply chain does glitch? Often it goes no deeper than having a scapegoat lined up.