Sustainability Through Data Utilization

Increasing pressure on performance—from all sides.

Companies, government agencies, citizens, and all elements of society must play their part in addressing new challenges in today’s market. Organizations will need to continue to seek out and mitigate sources of waste, inefficiency and sub-optimal quality. Well known continuous improvement programs such as Lean Six Sigma and Total Quality Management (TQM) can be effective platforms for addressing these challenges. But, the need for complete supply chain transparency and traceability requirement will require much tighter collaboration and communication among the participants than they are accustomed to today. And this collaboration must transcend all processes and decisions—from initial product design to the end of the product’s life (after several recycling cycles).

At the same time customers are scrutinizing sustainability, they will continue to press for higher product diversity (mass customization), lower prices, and faster delivery. The impacts of globalization will continue to create instabilities in the market. And, companies will continue to face some significant management challenges, such as the lack of human resources (mainly in mature economies) and the lack of financial resources (financial crisis).

All these challenges will put organizations under pressure. Those that adapt and evolve rapidly will prevail. One of the keys to success will be the ability to capture and use information—quickly and efficiently.

Technologies that can support both environmental and profitability goals.

In the operations management world, automated and collaborative information systems are vital to effective decision making.  There are many available tools that complement continuous improvement programs such as LEAN Six Sigma or Total Quality Management approaches to help companies produce faster benefits and sustainable improvements. These technologies extend management visibility and can help shift decision-making processes from reactive to proactive.  We refer to the convergence of this technology and continuous improvement methodology as going from Lean to MEAN™(Master Excellence with Automation Now).  These are some of the technologies that enable supply chain sustainability and support both environmental and profitability goals:

• Supply chain network optimization tools
• Decreases the need for stock transfers by allocating the right quantities of inventory to the right distribution centers
• Improves customer fill rate and decreasing carbon footprint
• Decreases inbound and outbound transportation costs and reduces carbon footprint by identifying the right locations for distribution centers
• Advanced demand management technologies
• Decreases overstocks (waste) and ecological footprint by creating more accurate forecasts
• Captures shifts in demand through demand-sensing capabilities, facilitating optimal customer fill rates and inventory levels
• Optimizes ecological footprint
• Advanced production planning and scheduling
• Minimizes setups and optimizes throughput, thereby reducing waste
• Reduces manufacturing cycle time and increases on-time delivery performance
• Business intelligence platforms
• Improves management of costs and profitability
• Enables better measurement and control of program impact
• Delivers data in real time
• Business process management (BPM)
• Complements and extends existing ERP systems
• Automates business transactions; for example, the handling of exceptions
• Structures management of multiple resources and processes

Today’s processes and systems are evolving rapidly—as are consumer expectations. Communication and decision processes happen faster than ever. And, many transactions take place before we can really control them. Optimizing results and producing profitable operations in this challenging retail environment requires managing across the entire supply chain ecosystem. The most successful companies will be those that leverage LEAN to transform to MEAN™.  We ask, is there a better time than now to become a Green, LEAN and MEAN leader?

For more information about green sustainability in LEAN to MEAN transformation, please don't hesitate to reach out.