The most obvious consequence of the recession, at least publicly, was the number of plant closures, layoffs and reorganizations. With companies cutting all discretionary expenditures, including memberships to supply chain management associations like the Supply Chain Council, it seems every corner of the industry has been touched by the recession.
What Joseph Francis found interesting, in the midst of major staffing reductions, was watching companies become intensely interested in the qualifications of the supply chain professionals that survived the cuts. In the last six to nine months, Joseph says he's seen a very big up-kick in broad, cross-company training in supply chain management and best industry practices.
Emerging from Recession
Joseph Francis says Douglas Kent, the Supply Chain Council's European Training Director, and others, are beginning to have discussions with companies about how to scale up. Instead of rushing into a hiring frenzy, they're really focused on what steps should be taken as the effects of the recession begin to ease.
In addition to training and scaling, Joseph says businesses are more focused on aligning supply chain planning with sales cycles and inventory. The lesson we have learned, he said, is that proper alignment would have enabled companies to react quickly to changes in demand. Interestingly enough, American companies proved to be more agile in realigning staffing requirements with sales and inventory, followed by Asia. Europe, Joseph Francis said, was slowest to make the necessary cuts in staffing and inventory.
