Articles

My First 100 Columns

Bill’s Building Blocks - December 2021

My First 100 Columns

My son is an accomplished architect. I have always been intrigued by the integration of disciplines of the architect to plan and design, working with the structural engineer to achieve design goals and analyze risks, working with the construction foreman to build in accordance with the local building codes to create new structures. Each follows basic principles and learns through practice. Each discipline alone is necessary, but insufficient. Yet when fully integrated, these practitioners collaborate for amazing results.

My vision of supply chain adult education leverages this analogy. My book, Supply Chain Architecture, applies an architectural approach to planning and designing supply chains. My graduate course at NYU Tandon, Supply Chain Engineering, applies an engineering approach to achieving supply chain design goals and analyzing risk. My book, Supply Chain Construction, applies a practical approach to building multi-echelon supply chains.

My monthly supply chain column, Bill’s Building Blocks, adds some texture over and above textbook and university courseware to learning about supply chains. The objective of Bill’s Building Blocks is to keep supply chain fundamentals foremost in the reader’s mind. This has become increasingly harder to do under the seductive forces of digital supply chains, IoT, blockchain, robotic warehouses, artificial intelligence, Covid disruption, extreme weather, etc. Seasoned supply chain practitioners know that basic principles are still very relevant as the world spins in crazy ways.

The content structure of Bill’s Building Blocks evolved into an opening paragraph that relates some situation of everyday life to supply chain basics. Each introduction is then explored within a context of PLAN, SOURCE, MAKE, DELIVER, or RETURN. I want readers to keep in mind that even with the accelerating crush of business, with all the promise of the latest and greatest technologies, and with the hyperbole of the newest “breakthrough” concepts, the basics are still building blocks to supply chain success.

You have just finished reading the 100^th monthly column of Bill’s Building Blocks that I have written since September 2012. I want to thank the Boards of Directors of my home chapter: West Jersey Chapter of APICS (later becoming Greater North Jersey Chapter of ASCM), the Central Jersey Chapter, and the Princeton South Jersey Chapter for publishing my thoughts in their chapter newsletters and later their chapter websites. It is my pleasure to be able to give back something of value to the chapter membership.

©2021 William T. Walker, CFPIM, CSCP-F, CLTD-F, CIRM has 42 years practitioner experience, authored Supply Chain Construction and Supply Chain Architecture, and teaches Supply Chain Engineering at NYU Tandon plus Demand Planning at Rutgers Business School. He is a 40+year ASCM member and APICS E&R Foundation past president. email: [email protected]