Since the bulk of an iceberg is below the water, the entire berg was estimated to be as tall as a 55-story building! The tallest known iceberg in the North Atlantic was 550 feet (168 m) above sea level. Small bergs (a little smaller than a car) are known as “growlers,” while slightly larger bergs (about the size of a house) are called”bergy bits.” Larger bergs are classified as small, medium, large, and very large. Icebergs float in salt water because they are formed by calving, or splitting, glaciers and are thus made of fresh water. In this article we’ve given a few examples of this analogy in action.Icebergs are found in the Arctic, North Atlantic, and Southern Oceans. Most people just see the tip of the iceberg whereas those who work in the profession are fully aware of the 90% of the iceberg that most people can’t see. Their ability to execute that complexity in the most effective manner can give those on the outside the impression that these tasks are easier, or simpler, than they really are.Īnd while it is always important to focus on process simplification and waste elimination there is no getting around the fact that a lot of work is required to make things happen. Those who work in Supply Chain know of the extensive set of business processes to be executed to make things happen. Bill of lading/open order quantity verification.Yard management for inbound shipments and scheduling.They are oblivious to the 90% of the work that happens below the surface in order to make that commitment a reality. Just as with the iceberg the Customer only cares about the commitment they receive regarding their order. Every one of these steps is a separate business process that must be executed either in advance, or in real time, so that realistic and informed customer commitments can be made as to their order requirements. Even if visibility to these factors is automated there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, or below the surface, to provide this information. There are many different factors that go in to determining when an order can be delivered. While a sales person may have made the sale in B2B, or a website is the platform for order receipt in ECommerce and B2C, it is necessary for Supply Chain to determine, and commit to, when that order will be shipped and delivered to the customer. When a customer places an order it is necessary to make a commitment as to when that order will be fulfilled and delivered. Process and expenditure approvals throughout.When a Procurement team is asked to find a new supplier to perform a particular service or supply a specific type of components, parts or materials there are a large number of steps required to bring this result to fruition. To illustrate the Supply Chain Workload iceberg we’ve selected a few sample business processes to demonstrate our message. It is easy for an Executive to issue high level orders to add new suppliers for instance, but the number of processes and the amount of effort required to make that seemingly simple request happen can be enormous. Given the importance of Supply Chain it is important to have a better understanding of all of the work that is performed. But a more modern and progressive view is that Supply Chain is a strategic function of the highest value which can make or break the success and survival of an company in any industry. Historically the Supply Chain has been viewed as more of an administrative, necessary back office function. Supply Chain touches virtually every aspect of the planning, structure, processes, operational performance and financial performance of any organization. And when Executives and Financial teams are pressuring functions on their resource and expenditure levels it can be challenging to defend those requirements with those who don’t understand the complexity involved in making Supply Chain run, and run well. Unless you work in the field you do not understand and appreciate the amount of work involved to make things happen in Supply Chain. So let’s explore the Supply Chain Workload iceberg! Why is the Supply Chain Workload Iceberg Important? This can be analogous to the work done in Supply Chain. With an iceberg it is said that only 10% of it is visible as the rest is under the water. These jobs reach far and wide, touching virtually every business process, most metrics, and all functional areas.īut too often the expected deliverables from Supply Chain professionals are established without a real understanding of the totality and breadth of actual tasks that must be performed underneath those high level expectations. Supply Chain responsibilities are vast in any organization.
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