![]() The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. In the meantime, you may want to check out a new, cloud-based, visual project management tool called Cardsmith as a way to take the sticky-note concept digital. We’ll talk more about the value of the sticky note concept and how to use them effectively in future posts. At the time however, I was relatively new to supply-chain work and the sticky notes allowed me to formatively develop my analysis. If I had seen this issue hundreds of times before, this might have been a no-brainer, and I know many consultants today that would be able to solve this problem in their heads. I was able to ‘see’ the cause-and-effect relationships and ‘discover’ how the practice of ordering large quantities of long lead time products from China, combined with the rapidly changing demand from customers due to style and trend changes was causing major inventory issues. There was something about this process of writing things on little notes and arranging them on a big whiteboard that helped me think more clearly and to be more confident in my conclusions about what levers could be pulled to help the company improve productivity. “One man’s magic is another man’s engineering” Robert A. While accurately linking cause to effect in this context requires some experience or knowledge of supply-chain systems, the sticky notes were a magical aid to my thinking. Next, I grouped the “effects” (the undesirable things) with their potential causes. These were things like how much inventory was ordered at one time and the number of new products introduced each quarter. Next, I listed the company policies and behaviors that were in place. I interviewed key staff and then used sticky notes to list out all of the undesirable things that were occurring at this company such as too much inventory of some items, not enough of other items, unhappy customers due to late orders, quality issues from suppliers, high costs from customer returns, etc. Many years ago, I was hired by a consumer products company to help them improve productivity. “Never underestimate the power of breaking down your ideas into discrete pieces and then being able to organize them any way you want.” ![]() ![]()
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