As we toured several e-commerce facilities such as UPS and Amazon, it became obvious that the sheer volume during peak season presents a huge dilemma. For example, UPS goes from 250-300 containers per night to 450 during peak season. Now that is quite a surge! Amazon has similar surges and stated facts such as 68 million orders on Cyber Monday.
In thinking about the answer to the question, "What if you sell more?", most sales people would cheer. Most accountants would add up the additional revenue and profit. And, often, the Operations resources would be glad the leaders are in a good mood. But does anyone know if we are set up to successfully handle the increased sales if they occur?
Factories across the globe are showing signs of strain in keeping up with demand. China, Germany, France, Canada, the UK and the US all show that capacity might not be keeping up with supply.
Although evaluating your supply chain readiness is paramount to support growth, there is no reason to wait for your customers to request an audit.
Businesses with growth ambitions have to gauge the current capacity of every facet of their facility to plan future productivity
The quickest, most practical inventory solutions happen with teamwork.
The need for improved capacity and staffing analysis and decision-making arises frequently as a critical success factor with my clients.
