A BILL GAW SPECIAL RECOMMENDATION  

A 2-Day Project Management Workshop

When:   May 01-02, 2007

Where:  Windmill
             Hwy 5 and Palomar Airport Road 
             Carlsbad, CA 92009

Participative workshop for Learning how to:

• Project portfolio analysis

• Develop a project scope 

• Develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Identify resource requirements and establish cost and time estimates

• Create a network diagram and identify critical path

• Basic risk assessment techniques and contingency planning

• Basic project communication management

• Project monitoring and control techniques

• Change management

• Document and close out the project

You’ll learn how to develop, execute, monitor, and optimize results form your own project management plan.  

Fees:    $485.00 (10% discount for group of 4 +)  

To check it out, click on the below link:  

http://bbasicsllc.com/ProjectManagementWorkshop.htm

 March 5, 2007  

Hi subscribers and customers,  

What is the key to getting the RIGHT parts in the RIGHT quantity to the RIGHT place at the RIGHT time, and for the RIGHT price?  

If you answered, "get the right suppliers," you are correct. But we all know that's easy to say and very difficult to accomplish.  

In my experience the best approach to getting the "right suppliers," is to implement a Supply Chain Management initiative that has SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT at the center of its agenda.  

If your company is having trouble getting the RIGHT parts in the RIGHT quantity to the RIGHT place at the RIGHT time, and for the RIGHT price, don't pass up reading this week's MBBP Bulletin, "Supply Chain Management."  

Have a nice day, and stay connected.  

Bill Gaw
Business Basics, LLC
bg@bbasicsllc.com
760-945-5596  

P.S. We did a purge of our MBBP database and if you follow our subscriber number, you'll notice it dropped back to 12,000 plus. You can help bring us back up by forwarding a copy of this bulletin to your team members, peers, upper management, and suppliers. Thanks in advance for your help.  

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT             

Companies will never achieve their full growth and profit potential, let alone gain the benefits of their supply chain, as long as business leaders continue to talk about value-added supplier partnerships while continuing to treat their suppliers as adversaries.  

Non-Value-Added Activities  

Material handling and inventory storage are two of manufacturing's high cost, non-value-added activities. The elimination of the stock room, as it is known today, should be a strategic objective of all manufacturers.  

Moving materials to their point-of-use is not a new concept, the auto industry has done it from its beginning and all industries have had success with point-of-use, low cost hardware.  

Supply Chain Development  

Supply chain development is the key to point-of-use logistics, and it's time to realize that there is much more to increasing supplier contribution to gross profits than simply placing purchase orders with the lowest price bidder. "Strategic Outsourcing" that focuses on getting the right materials to the right place at the right time must replace "beating-up" on suppliers for price reduction alone.

A Case In Point  

A manufacturer of electronic component test equipment, in response to its need to increase factory floor space to build a new multifunction tester, decided to convert stockroom space into a production area. It was agreed that NONE of the new tester parts would enter the remaining stockroom and that ALL COMMON PARTS would be relocated to their using production areas as "point-of-use" inventory.  

The key to making this project a success was the development of a powerful supplier support network that provided timely and innovative "point-of-use" logistical support.  

High communications integrity, scheduling flexibility/ responsiveness, superior quality, special materials transportation/storage hardware and a positive kaizen mindset were some of the characteristics of the developed relationship.  

Three years after the start of the project, this Manufacturer was a market leader and most of the credit goes to their supplier development team and the powerful supplier support network that it helped develop.  

Value-Added Suppliers  

In today's competitive business environment, many manufacturing companies are turning to value-added supplier partnerships to achieve the material availability performance that is a requisite to successful point-of-use logistics.  

When a company forms a partnership that performs one of the links in the supply chain, both stand to benefit from the other's success.  

The power of supplier partnerships is undeniable. To a great extent, they have the best of both worlds: the coordination and scale associated with large companies and the flexibility, creativity and low overhead usually found in small companies.  

Suppliers have knowledge and insight but aren't burdened with guidelines from a distant headquarters. They don't have long forms to fill out and weekly reports to render and can act promptly, without having to consult a thick manual of standard operation procedures.  

In an increasing number of industries, value-added suppliers are proving to be fiercely competitive – delivering high quality, competitively priced materials to precise buyer schedule requirements.  

Partnership Relations  

An excellent way of establishing the partnership relationship is to treat each other as an extension of one's business. The value-added supplier should look to his partner for services such as special procurement help on capital equipment and training needs and maybe some process engineering or quality engineering assistance.  

The buying partner, on the other hand, should look to the supplier partner for product development input, cost containment ideas and high quality parts/ components/assemblies delivered to the right place at the right time.  

Most business leaders underestimate the depth and breadth of business skills that are required to initiate and nurture an effective supply chain program. Usually, these leaders hold suppliers at arm's length and struggle to keep any economic gains to themselves.  

In fact, organizations often try to weaken a supplier to ensure their own control of profits. This of course is ridiculous and is the first obstacle to be overcome if point-of-use logistics is to be successfully implemented - for without a strong supplier network there can be no point-of-use logistics.  

Supply Chain Excellence  

Business people in pursuit of supply chain excellence should be advocates of: 1) business integrity, 2) day-to-day supplier cooperation, 3) free exchange of information, 4) responsive decision-making and 5) supplier profit sharing.  

Supplier development and strategic outsourcing are requisites for success. They both require a "from the top down" commitment and investment to educate and train a team of professionals that can make it happen.  

If you and your company are striving to optimize any of the following::

•  MRP stability and reliability

• Supplier selection and development

• Supplier quality and on-time deliveries 

• Right parts in the right place at the right time

• Customer responsiveness and satisfaction

• New product introduction

A good training investment would be to consider our training package, "Supply Chain Management."  

We are currently running an Internet special price of $397.00. That's a savings of $362.00 and many more hundreds of dollars less than attending a relevant seminar. (And unlike a seminar, your e-tutorial will always be available for future reviews) Now that's an offer you shouldn't pass up.  

For details, check it out at:  

                      http://bbasicsllc.com/scm.htm  

Do it today because this 48% discount won't last forever.  

TO ADVANCE YOUR CAREER AND EARNINGS, GO TO:  

http://bbasicsllc.com/training-modules.htm  

Print and Share

You are welcomed to print and share this bulletin with your peers, business team members, and upper management... better yet, have them signup for their own copy at:  

                           http://bbasicsllc.com