All successful transformations have three things in components – alignment, balance and continuous improvement. Case study after case study found that companies ignore these principles at your own risk.

Transformations of companies are back in fashion. In the late ’90s, they were driven by aggressive vendors, now they are driven by academic theorists simple. The two groups have little or no experience of real life practice in supply chain management. Leading management academics say today that any supply chain in the world should have the same agile, adaptable and aligned. We think it is arrogant. It is like saying every woman in the world should wear dress size 7 – it sounds very sexy, but it is not practicable.

Despite enormous advances in tools for decision making, the dream of mass customization is still beyond our reach today. Therefore, the efficiency and agility poles remain diametrically opposed on the same continuum. However, this does not mean that every organization come together, is no matter what industry or what strategy to the holy grail of agility. In fact, at the other end of the continuum, there are large concentration of industrial investment, where the business is imperative to the last fraction of a percent of the cost drive. A super tanker of 350,000 tons fully loaded, not much room for flexibility and a large quantity of crude oil remains today is still done by these tankers. The number of examples are cited as many (or more) than that of the university – from oil to natural gas for minerals, coal and mining – where the ticket is for the economic activity is so high that industrial plants or later softened agility and adaptability.

We believe that the supply chain of the organization should be aligned with its business. Whether agile or adaptable business should be completely dependent on the requirements. Some companies, driven by the emotions of the customers need, innovation, or product life cycle courts agility and adaptability in their supply chains. However, other companies depend on the efficiency at the lowest cost, require their customers. Agile supply chains help to those companies exposed to much higher costs than their competitors – and perhaps the first to bend under the pressure of costs. For example, marine transportation of crude oil in 10 tanks of 35,000 MT would certainly provide the mechanism more agile – but the cost by 50% to 200% increase. Whether agility is worthless for the end customer, with huge investments in the tanks at the port of discharge is still a big question. » Read more: ABC of Business Transformations