Because your products and customers vary, your business strategies and therefor your supply chain focus must vary as well. Depending on your product and type of customer, you need to focus on different things because your customer requirements are very different. Let's say, for example, you manufacture tires. You surely have many different types of tires for different uses. There are tires designed for automobiles (probably many different kinds of them too) and tires for 18-wheelers, tires for construction vehicles, even tires for race cars and airplanes. Your customers range from automobile manufacturers to tire retailers, gas stations, municipalities, logistics companies, airlines, etc.
As you might expect, different customers have different requirements and you will need to design your supply chains differently to meet those requirements. Supply chains can be prioritized based upon reliability, responsiveness, flexibility, cost, and asset management. For the auto manufacturer we would probably want to focus first and foremost on supply chain reliability. We need to send the perfect order in full on the date that we promise. Failure to deliver can have disastrous effects on the customer forcing him to shut down his line. On the other hand, racing tires are manufactured to customized specifications. For these customers, the priority is more likely flexibility, being able to adapt your process to the customers specific requirements.
How am I doing?
Ed Koch when he was mayor of NYC in the 1980's was famous for constantly seeking feedback from his constituents by asking that question every time he was out in public. In the supply chain world, we use benchmarking to compare our performance with others in our industry. Our objective is to be 'best-in-class' in the areas that we have identified as our priorities for a particular supply chain. Being 'best-in-class' doesn't mean that you are perfect. In fact, perfection is seldom necessary or even possible. To be the best, you just need to be better than all the other guys.
Watch the Gap
The 'gap' between our performance and how the 'best-in-class' is performing, indicates the area(s) where we need to apply our resources and energies. Needless to say, this is not a one time activity. Supply chain leaders are constantly reviewing their priorities, measuring their performance, and constantly monitoring the 'gap'.
