CONFIRMED RESULTS VALIDATE THE OPPORTUNITY:

During the summer of 2004, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and Supply
Chain Management Review conducted a survey among readers of the magazine
and selected business organizations known to have some form of ASCM effort
under way. The feedback came from 209 companies, of which 115 were corporations
or independent businesses; 58 were divisions, wholly owned subsidiaries,
or strategic business units; and 33 were group or multidivision organizations.
The industries represented in the survey included aerospace and defense,
automotive, chemicals, consumer goods, discrete manufacturing, food service,
government, healthcare, high technology, mining, oil and gas, process manufacturing,
professional services, publishing and printing, retail, telecommunications,
utilities, and wholesale distribution; 23 firms listed their business as
�other.�
The survey was intended to find answers to such questions as:
Where have supply chain efforts gone?
What are the documented results?
What are the leaders doing?
What variation exists across industries?
What is the link with technology?
In summary, the results provided the following answers:
Most businesses, regardless of industry, reported that their results positioned
them predominantly in levels 2 and 3, with evidence that most
companies tend to bog down somewhere in this area; 91% of the respondents
indicated they were no further along than level 3.
Most of the documented progress, as expected, was reported in the areas
of sourcing and logistics, followed by planning and inventory management.
Those responding rated progress with other areas of importance
much lower.
Collaboration with external business allies remains an elusive concept
for most companies, as there was clear evidence that this concept was
not generally being applied.
Reported cost savings ranged from 1 to 20% or more of identified supply
chain costs. There appeared to be a disparity in what is included in
supply chain costs, as the amount varied from a few percent to as much
as 50% of total revenues, indicating that there still is some confusion
concerning what should be included in supply chain costs.
High technology, telecommunications, and wholesale delivery were the
industries where those responding gave themselves the highest level of
progress ratings.
The link with technology was indelible, meaning higher levels of progress
could not be attained without enabling technology, but there was sufficient
information in the responses to indicate that there was far more
technology applied to finding solutions and improvements than there
were documented results as a result of those efforts. We interpret this
finding to mean that there has been a tendency to try to apply technology
solutions before the processing has been properly improved and
then enhanced with technology.
Revenue increases were also reported, ranging from 1 to 20% or more, but
there was less certainty of the results here, as a significant percentage of
those responding indicated they were not sure of revenue increases.
Our general conclusion was that supply chain efforts are alive and well, with
supply chain now accepted as a major business improvement technique.