During a down economy, logistics execs often turn to consultants to help boost supply chain efficiency. If you're thinking of tapping into professional help, read our advice on choosing the right consultant, avoiding pitfalls, and achieving off-the-chart results. There is a plethora of logistics and supply chain consultants to choose from, but their capabilities, scope, and experience vary widely. Supply chain consultants include former logistics executives and academics whose operations range from one-man shops to very large firms with thousands of employees, and everything in between.
Before starting your search for a supply chain consultant, define the scope of each supply chain project carefully, and develop an understanding of how the project fits within the broader supply chain program. With so many aspects to a supply chain, the tighter the requirements, the more accurate the consultant selection will be. While some companies automatically turn to consultants with whom they've had success in the past, others go through a formal evaluation and selection process. The selection process includes identifying a list of selection criteria to use when evaluating consultant candidates, researching potential consultants, inviting a number to make presentations and then asking them to submit proposals.
When evaluating potential consultants, do your homework,be very specific about your goals and objectives, then find out what potential consulting firms have done for similar organizations, and what results they've gotten. Beware of consultants who tell you they can deliver the work you want done, then don't really have the capability of doing so. When you interview consultants face to face, pay close attention to what they say.Is it clear that they have learned about your customers and your competition, analysed your web site, called your customer service line, spoken with experts in your industry, and visited places where you sell your products? If they have, you know they are prepared, and are actively interested in understanding your business and its problems.
It's equally important to pay attention to how well the consultants listen to what you say; logistics consultants will want to impress you with all their great answers to all your great problems. But they should listen to your explanations of your problems before giving you their answers.
Logisticians are trained to think in terms of process and continuous improvement, which makes it difficult to keep the scope of a project from expanding beyond its original goals. It's crucial to clearly set expectations from the get-go. Clarity and narrowing the scope down from the beginning are absolutely necessary, even with that, it is almost guaranteed that, unless you make a concerted effort not to let it, the scope of the project will creep. To successfully work with logistics consultants, establish a strong relationship and set an environment and tone where not only you are free to challenge, but where you are expected to challenge each other. There has to be a real open environment of sharing and feeling that you're in this together.
By following some of the points mentioned above, and doing your homework, you can find the right consultant to steer your supply chain projects smoothly through to completion, no matter what the economy.