Chicago Consulting designs optimal supply chains
Chicago Consulting Supply Chain Consultants 8 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 3600 Chicago, IL 60603 (312) 346-5080 admin@chicago-consulting.com http://www.chicago-consulting.com
We are supply chain consultants, strategists and engineers. By designing strategies for our clients’ supply chains, we help them increase market share and earnings. We have developed advanced tools to engineer supply chains. These tools include several computer applications that optimize specific components and that are unique to supply chain consultants. Our most advanced tools optimize warehouse networks and inventories. Others quantify the relationship between customer satisfaction and market share in competitive markets.
Optimal Supply Chains Optimal supply chains will always provide better service and at lower cost then other (non-optimal) supply chains. The basis of our strategy and design is two-fold—the performance of the supply chain and the cost to operate it. By performance we mean the service the supply chain provides and the contribution it makes to top line objectives of increased sales. Provide the highest possible service for any given operation cost or budget. Require the lowest possible operations cost for any given service level.
THE 10 BEST WAREHOUSE NETWORKS Networks with the Lowest Possible "Time-to-Market“ The 10 Best Warehouse Networks have been developed based on the lowest possible transit lead-times to customers represented by the US population. For example, Vincennes, IN provides the lowest possible lead-time for one warehouse. Any other place will increase transit lead-time to the US population. Similarly putting any three warehouses in any locations other than Boyertown PA; Jackson TN and Porterville CA will cause the transit lead time to be higher than 1.33 days. The "Percent Throughput" statistics specify the amount of material that would flow trough these warehouses based on them serving the population closest to them.
Send us your warehouse locations for a free evaluation. Our warehouse management consultants will compute the service your network provides, contrast that with the 10 Best, determine where your next warehouse(s) should be located and what additional service this would achieve for you. We'll also determine which warehouse(s) you may want to eliminate if you wish.
http://www.chicago-consulting.com
POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS Some solutions come through compressing time—finding ways of reducing the time products take to go through the supply chain complexities. Normally this requires substantial communication and coordination capability. Flexibility comes, in part, from having alternatives. Alternative manufacturing suppliers and service providers—transportation, customs, freight forwarding and so on. Too many US companies have locked themselves into too few Chinese suppliers. Some organizations are finding that establishing an inbound consolidation capability greatly shortens their lead-times. This solution stems from having a warehousing capability, typically near a port, which can receive material manufactured ahead of the critical time at which it’s needed. Then orders, typically for multiple items, are placed on the warehouse and shipped in full container loads.
FOR COMPANIES WITH EXPERIENCE IN SOURCING IN CHINA THE PROBLEMS The supply chain from China to the US is long physically and time-wise. It’s full of complexities and traps that can stall products and cause missed opportunities at home. The most visible result of this is increased inventories— ordering earlier than otherwise, carrying larger safety stocks and so on. One of our clients estimates that they could reduce their safety stocks by 30% if their China/US supply chain were more effective. The less visible result (which, in most businesses, is far more consequential than mere inventory increases) is lost sales; real sales which are lost to others as a result of not having product on time.
http://www.chicago-consulting.com
CUSTOMER SERVICE If you manage a business with competitors, so your customers have choices -- are there any others? -- Chicago Consulting can help you be more successful in the followings ways:
Increase Sales, Market Share And Profits We believe that satisfying customers is the ultimate business strategy--with satisfied customers, much is possible; without customers, nothing is possible. We can develop a customer satisfaction based business strategy for you. We can: Determine why customers buy from you and why they buy from your competitors. Quantify how your market share depends on your customer satisfaction levels and, equally important, on your competitors' satisfaction levels. Quantify how much additional market share you could achieve with added customer satisfaction.
Determine how and why customers switch between you and your competitors. Find what your customers believe about your company with respect to those issues that determine how they buy. Determine what you need to do to keep your customers and to cause more of your competitors' customers to switch to you.