Supply Chain
Costs, Seminars
Rising Prices
On May 7, 2008, newspaper headlines and front pages focused
on inflation (e.g., Phil. Star – Consumer prices soar
to 3-year high, Phil. Daily Inquirer – Soaring prices
push inflation rate to 8.3%, BusinessWorld – Food drives
inflation surge). Newspapers also reported that global oil
prices surged to a new trading record above $120, reaching
$120.36 a barrel for June delivery. Since then, however, oil
prices have reached $124.
It is a coincidence, but appears not to be, that on the same
day, newspapers also released items on profits amassed by
service and utility companies –
• Meralco of course, has been in the headlines
• Manila Water – Manila Water profit up 22% in
first quarter (Inquirer)
• Globe – Globe net income up 32% as of March
(Inquirer)
• PLDT – PLDT profit jumps 21% to P10.4B in Q1
(Phil. Star)
• Piltel nets P2.46B in Q1 (Phil. Star); Piltel income
up by 24% (Bus. World).
One cannot help but think that while consumers are being hit
hard by escalating prices, these huge corporations are raking
it in. This leads to the tempting, but false, conclusion that
all of the above are contributing to consumer difficulties.
Yes, consumers are being hurt by electricity and water prices,
but the telecom companies are not culprits, inflation wise,
although consumers are increasing their telecom spend.
The threat of wage increases has temporarily subsided as
no wage increases were announced on Labor Day, but it will
probably be just a matter of time.
Supply Chain Costs
The driver of inflation is, of course, fuel / energy cost,
but there were no news items on the profits of the oil companies.
So, as prices rise all around us, we can see that not only
consumers are affected. Industry and business are affected.
Among business costs, supply chain costs are rising, and different
components will rise in varying degrees. Likewise supply chain
costs will rise in different countries to varying degrees.
Global and local cost profiles will change, and it will become
necessary for companies to review supply chain processes and
adopt lean strategies.
SCMAP keeps its seminars and workshops attuned to the times.
They reflect the above need to take a hard look at costs.
Shipping Immersion Course
By the time this gets published, Negros Navigation’s
St. Joseph the Worker would have returned from its itinerary
of Manila – Boracay – Manila, from May 9 to 12,
2008. Course topics would look at opportunities and alternatives
for cost reduction in transport. The
course attracted over 80 participants from both SCMAP and
non-SCMAP organizations.
Workshop on Quantitative
Approaches to Logistics Planning
Meanwhile, SCMAP is still accepting registrants for its new
half-day-workshop on how operations research techniques can
help make improvements with long term impact on the supply
chain, particularly on cost. This initial offering will illustrate
two techniques (1) optimization methods applied to warehouse
location, and (2) forecasting techniques. The workshop leader
will be Sam Cruz, an OR expert consultant, formerly with San
Miguel Corp. and a past officer of the OR Society of the Philippines.
Schedule: Thursday, May 29, 2008, 1:00 to 5:30 pm
Fees: P3,000 for SCMAP members, P3,750 for non-SCMAP members
Manufacturing & Operational Excellence 2008
By the time this is published, the Marcus Evans workshop on
Manu-facturing & Operational Excellence would have started.
SCMAP is endorsing this Marcus Evans workshop. This is another
workshop that would advocate lean strategies, the total elimination
of waste, and the use of less resources in different aspects
of business. The workshop is scheduled for May 12 to 14.
UniMaC
If we might do a little commercial, UniMaC Business Consultancy,
Inc., which has been organizing seminars for SCMAP, held a
network meeting on April 24 at the Astoria Plaza. Some 30
consultants – network members attended. UniMac replaced
SSSR Consultants, which used to organize seminars for DMAP.
UniMaC utilizes speaking talents from DMAP / SCMAP, most of
them past presidents and directors. Apart from training, UniMac
is involved in business consulting in a number of business
areas including SCM. UniMaC is a member of the UniSolutions
Group, whose business is to provide information-based solutions
to business problems. The Group is also involved in market
research in the Philippines and Vietnam
Address inquiries and comments to Ed Sanchez at tel. 671-8670,
fax 671-4793, cell 0918-914-1689, or email scmap.org@gmail.com.
Those interested in SCMAP training and other activities are
requested to send their e-mail addresses.
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Oil Again, SCMAP Roster,
Workshops
Oil Rising Faster
Two weeks ago I wrote that crude oil had already earlier breached
$100 per barrel, and that such price was already an everyday
reality. More recently, it seems that a new record price is
being set everyday or almost everyday. We have exceeded $119.
The things I wrote about are accelerating, and the things
we have to do are becoming necessary earlier. The impact on
supply networks will be here sooner. Long supply chains caused
by globalization will have to be reviewed now and re-designed.
Lean strategy must be seriously looked at now. Total waste
elimination must be an objective now.
SCMAP Roster
Since the beginning of the year, SCMAP’s roster has
expanded to 100 corporate members and 3 individual members.
New corporate members include: Benby Enterprises, DHL EXEL
Supply Chain Phils., Lionapex Equipment, SSI Schaefer, Alarme
Transport, All Asian Countertrade, Inc.
The roster of individual members now reads: Ninoy Rollan,
Mike Lim, Anthony Yap Chao.
Shipping Immersion Course
By the time this gets published, it will be too late to register
for the annual shipping immersion course, as all slots would
have been filled up. Therefore we mention it briefly here.
This will be held on board Negros Navigation’s St.
Joseph the Worker. Itinerary is Manila – Boracay –
Manila, from May 9 to 12, 2008. The fees are P11,950 for SCMAP
members, and P14,935 for non-members. Speakers will be industry
experts, including officials from MARINA, PPA, PSB, and personalities
from the private sector, from UA&P and SCMAP.
Workshop on Quantitative Approaches to Logistics Planning
This is a new half-day-workshop which will illustrate how
operations research techniques can help make improvements
with long-term impact on the supply chain. This initial offering
will illustrate two techniques (1) optimization methods applied
to warehouse location, and (2) forecasting tehniques. The
workshop leader will be Sam Cruz, an OR expert consultant,
formerly with San Miguel Corp. and a past officer of the OR
Society of the Philippines.
Schedule: Friday, May 30, 2008
Fees: P3,000 for SCMAP members, P3,750 for non-SCMAP members
Manufacturing & Operational Excellence 2008
SCMAP is again endorsing a Marcus Evans workshop.
12th – 14th May 2008
Manila, Philippines
Lean Manufacturing is an operational strategy oriented toward
achieving the shortest possible cycle time by eliminating
waste. It focuses on the production of goods using less of
everything compared to mass production: less human effort,
less manufacturing space, less investment in tools, and less
engineering time to develop a new product. The technique often
decreases the time between a customer order and shipment,
and it is designed to radically improve profitability, customer
satisfaction, through time, and employee morale.
To successfully implement lean manufacturing, it is necessary
to understand the differences between the lean manufacturing
concepts to the conventional manufacturing. Failing to do
this will eventually kill your success. Subsequent to that,
there are many examples of Lean tool implementation, which
are easy to understand but often hard to implement, and these
are blamed on weak understanding of Lean Manufacturing in
the organization. This is also because of the cultural and
managerial aspects of Lean Manufacturing are just as, and
possibly more, important than the actual tools or methodologies
of production itself. The benefits and basic principals of
Lean and other methodologies are widely known, however, many
organizations struggle to gain a foothold when embarking on
the Improvement journey. Or, perhaps more commonly, the initiatives
stall and are sometimes eliminated due to a lack of understanding
of what it takes to both make and sustain the transformation.
Key Topics:
• Developing and engaging employees in Continuous Improvements
(CI) to achieve sustainable results – building a lean
culture
• Strategic Lean Implementation – optimizing for
manufacturing excellence and enhancing capability with a lean
environment
• Methodologies for developing and improving manufacturing
processes to support lean production – succession in
lean manufacturing on what are the processes involved in the
alignments.
• Continuous Process Improve-ments Kaizan workshop -
How to create a lean formula for Total Productive Maintenance
in a Lean organization for your plant
• Site Plant Tour- Toyota
If you are looking for answers on how to attain and maintain
success at all points along the process and the whole methodology
of Lean Manufacturing this is a conference you can’t
afford to miss.
For more information, delegate registration or event brochure,
please contact Ms. Lee Chew Wan at +603-2723-6748 or email
LeeC@marcusevanskl.com
Address inquiries and comments to Ed Sanchez at tel. 671-8670,
fax 671-4793, cell 0918-914-1689, or email scmap.org@gmail.com.
Those interested in SCMAP training and other activities are
requested to send their e-mail addresses.
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$100 Oil, 2 Shipping Courses
$100 Oil Now
It was less than six months ago that I wrote about oil and
the effect it could have on supply chains (Port-Calls, 29
October, 2007).
I quoted Charles Taylor, author of an article in CSCMP’s
Supply Chain Quarterly titled “The end of cheap oil:
Are you ready?” Taylor asked the questions:
• What will happen to your company if oil goes to $100
a barrel?
• Or $200?
• Or if you can’t get a supply of petroleum at
any price?
Well, oil breached $100 sooner than I expected. This is now
an everyday reality.
It would follow that, if the consequences for SCM that I
stated are right, then my predictions or statements on what
need to be done, would also come sooner.
Looking back, I said:
• Globally, supply chain processes will have to be rethought
as they will be seriously affected. Longer supply chains brought
about by globalization need to be reexamined. Since transport
costs will rise, long supply chains will become very expensive.
• There could be a redesign of manufacturing and distribution
networks to increase the number of factories. With high transport
costs, plants need to be near their markets; i.e., better
to transport lower cost raw materials over long distances,
than high value finished goods over long distances.
• The Philippines is in for a rough time as rich countries
and oil producing countries will have a big advantage over
poorer and non-oil producing countries. The problems will
be severe in poorer countries. Governments will intervene
in the allocation of oil in their respective countries.
• There should be room for collaboration in supply chains,
although there is a strong possibility of conflict among supply
chain participants.
• Companies will have to look more seriously into implementing
lean strategy. The total elimination of waste should be an
important goal.
With $100 oil now here with us, we have to move faster on
Charles Taylor’s recommendation. “The keys to
success will be to rethink, reduce, recycle, reuse and reward
innovation”.
Two SCMAP Shipping Courses
Last call for SCMAP’s Basic Shipping Course, an in-classroom
one day seminar on April 17, which can serve as a self-contained
seminar, or as a prelude to the on-board Shipping Immersion
Course on May 9 to 12.
The Basic Shipping Course is organized by UniMaC Business
Consultancy for SCMAP. The schedule is:
Date and Time Thursday
April 17, 2008,
8:00 am to 5:30 pm
Venue Astoria Plaza,
Escriva Drive, Pasig City
The fees are:
SCMAP Members P5,000
Non-SCMAP Members P6,250
Seminar topics include
• The role of shipping in logistics
• Overview of the domestic shipping industry
• Shipping statistics, regulations, RA 9295
• Ports operations, regulations, rates, international
best practices
• Shipping operations, liner shipping, tramp
• Cargo owner’s perspective —performance
measurement, business experience, experience with RORO
Speakers will be experts from industry, both from the government
and from the private sector. They include Ricardo Romero from
MARINA, Hector Miole from PPA, Col. Ding Odono formerly from
PISA, Cora Curay from SCMAP and XVC Logistics, and Dennis
Llovido from Nestle.
A second coming shipping course is the Shipping Immersion
Course, which will be on board Negros Navigation’s St.
Joseph the Worker. Itinerary is Manila – Boracay –
Manila, from May 9 to 12, 2008.
The fees are:
SCMAP Members P11,950
Non-SCMAP
Members P14,935
Speakers will be industry experts, including officials from
MARINA, PPA, PSB, and from the users sector.
Address inquiries and comments to Ed Sanchez at tel. 671-8670,
fax 671-4793, cell 0918-914-1689, or email scmap.org@gmail.com.
Those interested in SCMAP training and other activities are
requested to send their e-mail addresses.
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