Supply Chain Headache

Chances are that you caught some strain of flu that was going around last month. Or, at the very least, you had a cold. Last week, we had company-wide editorial meeting that was separated into thirds - the sickly third sat at one end of the table, another third sat in the middle because they were coming down with something, and the final third - which consisted of those who claimed to be healthy - sat at the other end. I was in that final third, smugly thinking about how I never get sick. I take my homeopathic remedies...I fight through it...I feel no pain...blah, blah, blah. Until that very evening when I inexplicably started sweating and shivering. Yep - Fever 101. That may be the point when even the strongest fold. I went straight to bed.

Waking up mid-afternoon, I realized I would have to make the painful trek to the nearest drug store to get some OTC flu medicine. Now, based on the scene at my place of work, I know that there are a lot of people who were sick. You would think the drug store would know this too and be prepared? Think again. I sat there dumfounded staring at bare shelves. There was random stock of types and brands of medicine, but the cold and flu section was picked over - a supply chain headache on top of the flu headache. Being sick is not the time to experiment; I went to buy a specific product and this out-of-stock issue was especially annoying. As much of an inconvenience as it was, I went to another store. The first store not only lost my dollars for cold medicine that was out-of-stock, but dollars I would have spent on tissues, drinks and whatever else I may have grabbed. It lost my future business as well. 

On the other hand, our best practices section this month provides case studies in successful supply chain management. The supply chain planning pull-out chart offers a comprehensive list of providers and their offerings, along with thought leadership from some of the top players.

And in our cover story, learn about a very cool company - New Belgium Brewing. From the founder's basement where he brewed beer as a hobby to employee "ownership," dedication to sustainability and unique product offerings, see how this company is leveraging technology to grow successfully. Cheers!