Dan Gilmore, Editor of SCDigest, reviewed the sessions he attended at CSCMP, including the Mega Session powered by AWESOME. In his video summary, Dan highlights key discussion points, including examples from panelists about what their companies have learned and practices they’ve put in place to drive innovation. All four panelists are members of the AWESOME network.
(Note: We recommend viewing the video on your desktop or laptop. This video may not play on some mobile devices.)
Examples he cites include:
- Having managers set “stretch goals” focusing on opportunities they have no idea how to achieve
- Re-thinking customer service from a cumulative perspective — reaching 90% of individual targets is not enough
- Using partners up and down the supply chain to test ideas -– and to stay informed about their innovative ideas, sometimes resulting in gaining “innovation partners”
- Embedding with customers to truly understand their goals and challenges
- Diversifying teams in terms of gender, race, age, experience and other dimensions to improve chances of creative thinking
- Realizing that creative, diverse teams may be more challenging to manage, but can sometimes achieve better results
Gilmore was particularly interested in noting experiences relayed by the AWESOME panel, because he has observed in the past that supply chain innovation is often a response to product innovation, and is distinct from innovation focused directly on the supply chain, a topic he is researching and plans to write about in the future.
In his video commentary, Gilmore also highlights a presentation by Mary Long, the new Chair of CSCMP’s Board of Directors and an AWESOME Advisor. He described her remarks as being about “the purpose-driven supply chain life.”
Another friend of AWESOME is featured in the video: Johnson & Johnson, Host Partner of the 2015 AWESOME Symposium, was recognized as runner-up for the 2016 Supply Chain Innovation Award for development of a multi-level tracking system in collaboration with software company DMLogic.