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Vol 26 - No 10 - December 2000/January 2001 Editorial: Make to Order The year is rushing headlong to the year end and some of us will soon be caught up in the heady days of the last quarter. I am sure most of you will know what I mean... It is uncanny how for months the sales-force have been chasing the elusive orders and just when you remove them from the schedule to minimise the year inventory impact .... wham the order gets signed. The arguments start, the systems grind and groan, the management cry we just spent ** ! Millions installing a new ERP system to beat Y2K and you tell me it can't cope with a last minute order.... That's when it may be useful to bone up on the subtleties of Make to Order, neatly expressed by Ian Henderson. Knowing the difference and being able to explain are important skills in operations management. Ian's messages are distinct for the specific type of Make to Order to which he refers. Knowing how to achieve a 48% reduction is a pretty good reason to investigate. Denis Towill’s and Peter McCullen’s article on the Bullwhip - no this is not a S&M solution to the problem just a researched project with a suitably disguised company - Glosuch... really Denis, no relation to the beer of the same sound, or is just a beer game !!! One of the key messages from Denis is the use of information flow to overcome the Bullwhip effect. It is almost a sin these days not to include the 'e-' prefix - so not to disappoint we hear from Tony Emmerton on e-Service. Whilst e-ing it may be able to focus on resource savings, it is also has profound impacts on information flows. Whilst his opening phase might be a little melodramatic the article has a clear message - do not ignore it! I started talking about last minute orders and so I shall finish in the same vein. Making to Order whether last minute or full lead time is about commitment, this is in turn about getting the Sales and Operations group pulling together as well as running a tight ship when it comes to keeping your systems data up to date. Mike Thacker lays it on the line for us in his article commitment in blood brings to mind the Chicken and the Pig.... You know the chicken participates by delivering the egg and the pig make the commitment and brings home the bacon…...Enjoy the few remaining shopping days to Christmas.... Related Topics:
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