Work Systems and Supply Chains: Are You Ready in Case of Disaster?

The Baldrige Excellence Framework can help

I heard the example that best helped me understand work systems and supply chains at a Baldrige training event right after the very sad 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. A colleague was talking about automakers in the United States and elsewhere whose suppliers were located in the devastated region. Suddenly, manufacturers that I didn’t even realize had Japanese connections were faced with unexpected supply-chain disruptions.

Such disruptions became critical because work systems—including, among other things, the external resources needed to develop and produce products—often depend on suppliers.

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Comments

NA Localization

Dawn,

My name is Ken, I work at a Japanese automotive supplier.

I got hired for loccalization purposes in 2013. I PPAP local suppliers to reduce the dependency on international supply chains.

It's hard to balance quality and delivery needs for suppliers abroad. The boats that bring material over automatically put 2 months of invetory between anything in Asia and North America. Quality problems in 1 lot could continue for those 2 months. I had a supplier that had one problem that we had to sort for 3 individual times over 6 months because of the supply chain.

I've seen a relation between volume, cost, and quality for a local North America supply chain deliberation. Volumes for option parts on cars normally don't meet the requirements for localization unless they are very expensive per piece, probably above 50 dollars per part for the car maker. Quality decisions will trump cost decisions also, very specialized or proprietary methods used on some parts normally remain at one location until technology develops enough to permit localization.

I enjoy what I do, but it is a complicated dance between those three variables. Especially volume of option parts, for 3 months you could be working night and day on a project, and then the option volume drops and you wait for the next model year to begin working again.

Cheers, this article really resonated with me.