First Step Quickness

Professional football, basketball, and baseball athletes need varying degrees of speed, depending on position. But there are also different kinds of speed needed. Fast is important, but first step quickness is more important to some positions. In other roles it's closing speed that matters. In yet others, it's lateral quickness. Any serious athlete practices drills specifically designed by experts to develop the type of speed they need.

What kind of speed does your organization need, and what drills should you be doing?

Many companies spend more elapsed time developing and finalizing their business strategy than the strategy itself lasts. Time flies, so the 5-year strategy has been replaced by the 12-18 month strategy. Some situations demand a one-day strategy. Do you need to fine-tune your strategy-development process to cut creation time in half? If you haven't yet implemented your last strategy before you begin to develop your next one, perhaps you should consider implementation drills also.

Some companies promise shipment within 5 business days of receipt of order on standard products with Finished Goods inventories. If you can't process and ship orders within a few hours, you've got incredibly patient customers who must have no other real options and you've got low expectations of your operations. The jump from amateur to the pros is a big one.

We all know that time-to-market can have a significant impact on market share and profitability. Have you cut your time-to-market by at least 50% in the most recent 3 years? Are you able to cut it by another 50% in the next three?

If you believe your organization needs to focus on speed, prioritize the areas to attack and look to an expert to help you with the appropriate drills.

There is no D-League in business.

The Starting Pistol

Anonymous:
"Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be chaos. Before a brilliant person begins something great, they must look foolish in the crowd.”

The Tape

Rebecca Morgan:
"Do not be afraid to look foolish."

September 17, 2014: Ft Wayne IN: You think your business is complicated? See how Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has progressed with Lean as they manage over 60,000 active part numbers for demanding high-precision applications. The facility converted to a value stream management approach while involving all employees. If you can’t learn something here, you’re pretty smart!

September 30, 2014: Columbus IN: Take advantage of this rare opportunity to get an insider’s look at Toyota Industrial Equipment operations in this 5-hour benchmarking event. It will sell out quickly, so reserve your spot now. Mixed model production, visual systems, communication and policy deployment are just a few aspects of the Toyota Production System that will be shown and discussed.

October 19-21, 2014: New Orleans, LA: The annual APICS conference starts Sunday morning and ends Tuesday evening, with multiple general sessions and presentations in between. Tracks include S&OP, Supply Chain Risk, Supply Chain Innovation and several other important topic areas. Certification points are awarded for attendance.

November 10-14, 2014: Jacksonville FL: The annual AME international Excellence Inside conference will have outstanding presentations, workshops, keynotes and tours that the conference is known for. The first time it will be held in the SouthEast United States since 2001. Arrive early to enjoy the Sunday Monday evening networking events, including a cruise.

November 20, 2014: Cleveland, OH: The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) is featuring Becky Morgan, presenting “The Role of Supply Chain in Profitable Growth.” ISM asks all attendees to invite their bosses to join this important conversation.