Rodrigo Alonso Salas Musso wrote a very engaging and fascinating essay, “Model of Supply Chain Management Based on the Application of Lean Tools and DDMRP to Decrease Returns in Retail SMEs,” published in WCSE Magazine. His insights into this subject have helped fuel recovery in the supply chain market after the significant challenges of COVID caused real problems.
What We Can Learn From Rodrigo Alonso Salas Musso
In his essay, Rodrigo Alonso Salas Musso examines multiple concepts of supply chain and the ways that Lean can apply to them. He examines things like the continuous flow model, which is a stable option for high-volume environments that focuses on providing the same product repeatedly to various manufacturers.
Other concepts include the fast chain model for frequently changing products and the efficiency chain model for very competitive industries based on production forecasting that considers a company’s potential needs. The custom-configured model focuses more on customized steps for individual manufacturers’ needs.
These unique methods have benefits and drawbacks. However, the biggest insight Rodrigo Alonso Salas Musso provides in his paper is how the Agile or Lean model can help companies looking to create efficient and high-quality products. This model focuses on small batches of products and is designed to adapt quickly to various needs and demands.
Rodrigo explores Lean concepts and tools throughout his essay, such as efficiency trackers, product improvement metrics, etc. His goal is to streamline supply chain management into a simple system with high adaptability to the market’s needs.
More importantly, Rodrigo Alonso Salas Musso touches on important facts that could help companies struggling in a COVID-19 world. These include setting up emergency supply depots and delivery routes when supply chain lines collapse temporarily. These depots could help companies adapt quickly to not just COVID-related emergencies but other situations.
Just as importantly, Salas Musso touches on the importance of quick adaptability and avoiding stretching your supply chains too thin. Lean is all about efficiency and constant improvement, and Salas Musso’s essay shows that companies need to focus on more concentrated and focused supply chain lines. For example, a single depot should only serve enough regions that make sense without forcing drivers into long, uncomfortable hours.
One example of a company that does this well is Amazon. While they have a global scale and ship products to dozens of countries, they create large warehouses throughout their service areas with a heavy concentration of products. This means they not only have products available in their regions at all times but can ship them quickly.
While not every company has the resources of Amazon, Salas Musso’s essay shows that they can adapt their operation in similar ways. For instance, they can focus on meeting the needs of their customers first before expanding and then carefully controlling their growth to avoid straining their system.