ADI exec: Supply chain is aligned with sales, marketing | Lawson Products posts Q1 profit as sales rise | Hy-Vee to shift 500 staffers from HQ to stores
Supply chain disruptions have led companies to put operations and supply chain professionals on more equal footing with their sales and marketing colleagues, says Allie Copeland, vice president of global operations at ADI. "I think supply chain and distribution professionals have always had a seat at the table, but I think the wheel is more aligned in terms of operations being able to voice concerns, risks and ideas -- and being heard," Copeland says.
Lawson Products reported $9 million in profit in the first quarter on $118 million in net sales, with overall and daily average sales both increasing. President and CEO Michael DeCata noted "strong growth in our now integrated Lawson/Partsmaster business, as well as within The Bolt Supply House business."
Grocery retailer Hy-Vee aims to transfer as many as 500 of its corporate employees to positions in stores as part of a cost-cutting strategy that will also include putting plans for a new warehouse and other projects on hold. The moves are necessary to help the retailer weather supply chain disruptions, rising inflation and higher costs for fuel and construction, the company said.
Supply chains must evolve to keep up with deglobalization, climate change and other factors, writes Michael Gravier, a professor and supply chain researcher at Bryant University in Rhode Island. Gravier offers several recommendations to manage risk, including developing flexible decision-making policies, digitizing practices and protecting them with solid cybersecurity, and ensuring employee and leader accountability.
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Key to creating and meeting realistic sales prospecting goals is figuring out how quickly you secure repeat business, and how much of your sales projections come from new business, writes Erica Schultz, RAIN Group's chief marketing officer. Since opportunities that come through the pipeline don't all become sales, the more refined your strategy is, the better, Schultz notes.
Strategic planning can go awry if managers get stuck in one way of thinking, rely only on one familiar model or if budget guides strategy, writes Graham Kenny, CEO of KMS Education and Strategic Factors. Kenny offers three examples of how CEOs overcame these barriers to come up with workable and flexible strategic plans.
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The NAW Billion Dollar Company Roundtables are an exclusive community of thought leaders from Billion Dollar distribution enterprises who congregate to network with non-competing peers in multiple lines of trade on key issues. The companies invited into this community are from distribution firms at or above $1 billion in annual sales. Register today!
