Archive for the ‘About Profit Point’ Category

When working with our clients we try to understand the reasons why they decided to use an outside consultant. I surveyed several of our clients to understand their thinking on this topic and the content of this blog entry should largely be credited to them.

While there are a number of reasons for engaging an outside consultant, those reasons fall into three broad categories which are

1) Resource capability

2) Resource availability

3) Training / Partnership

Resource Capability

In planning a project a key question to ask is “What skillsets are required to accomplish the work?” It may not be cost effective to maintain certain skillsets in-house if those skillsets

1) are not part of the core mission of your company and / or

2) are readily available at a reasonable cost on the outside.

Resource capability, though, can be thought of in broader terms than just expertise. An outside consultant can provide

1) a fresh perspective

2) objectivity

3) knowledge of best-in-class practices

4) political cover

In these kinds of situations, engaging outside resources makes eminent sense.

Resource Availability

Once you have settled on the skillsets required to accomplish the work, if those skillsets are not available in-house then obviously you’ll need to engage outside resources. But if they are available in-house you’ll need to determine if those in-house resources have enough capacity to accomplish the work within the required time frame.

If the resources needed are not available over the time frame required then an option is to make a permanent hire but there may not be enough time to do a proper search and after you hire someone presumably for the long term.

By engaging an outside consultant you can almost always get that resource working on your project sooner and will have that resource engaged for a limited time for a known cost up front (assuming fixed pricing).

Training / Partnership

Some of our customers want to have capable and available resources to do the work in house but do not currently. In those cases, an outside resource can help you build the capability in house via a partnership of training and / or mentoring. Here the clear end goal is to develop the long term in house resources to continue the work.

So whether it is to complement the capabilities of your organization supplement existing capacity or train and mentor new in house skills, consider how outside resources might help you meet your objectives.

At Profit Point, we often repeat the mantra “People, Process, Technology.”  All three are important for the kinds of projects we work on.  You have to have good systems (the technology part) that support good work processes and people that follow the process and use the systems.  If your people are not committed to following the process and using the systems, you are going nowhere fast.

Recently we were discussing with a senior manager at one of our clients what makes for a good Sales and Operations Planning Process (S&OP Process).  Being someone who is more of a process and technology guy I was thinking that he might say something like “You have to have a well thought out work process that is clearly communicated to everyone involved” or “You have to have a system that is easy to work with that supports the work process well.”  WRONG!

The first thing he mentioned was that senior management needed to be openly committed to the process and systems.  He illustrated this for us by recounting what another senior manager at this same client said during an S&OP meeting with a large group.  The group was going back and forth discussing a “potential” order from a customer and this particular senior manager said “If it’s not in the system then it’s a rumor and we don’t plan and schedule for rumors.”

As you can imagine, this cut down on the chatter in the room quite quickly.  This client had spent a lot of time and money developing processes and systems that worked well and those two things are necessary but not sufficient.  You have to have leadership that says “We have a work process to follow and a system to use to support executing that process.  Follow the process and use the system.”

Next you have to have people who do exactly that!  If this is not happening then as I heard from another executive “Either the people will change or the people will change!”

You have to be able to trust the data in the system but really at its root this boils down to trusting the people who entered the data in the system.  As I was reminded, this starts at the top!

Okay. I am an anomaly. I live in Utah and drink coffee. The majority of the people that live in Utah do not drink coffee, and that is OK, but I do. So, is there a shortage of coffee Cafés in Utah? No. There are many cafés and several that serve outstanding coffee.

We have an exceptional espresso café downtown, located on a side street off of Main. They roast their own coffee and use triple certified organic grown beans. It is the type of place the local coffee lovers go to hang out and have good conversation over a morning or afternoon latté or espresso. Possibly the best coffee I have ever had. What is interesting to me is that a large percentage of the residents in my area do not even know that this café exists.

So what is my point? When it comes to outstanding services or products most people are unaware of what is available, primarily because it does not fit into their lifestyle or what they’re accustomed to. I believe you can transfer this similarity to the business world. Manufacturing logistics and transportation people become accustomed to doing things a certain way. Over time they may become blind to ideas for improving the supply chain. They are unaware of an exceptional Supply Chain Café, even when it is located just seconds from a combination of keystrokes and Google.

It is not their fault they are missing the best latté available. We, as consultants, who prepare those delightful solutions from the Supply Chain Café menu, have probably not done the finest job of promoting our services and software to your neighborhood, but that is changing.

There are many empty cups in the supply chain, waiting to be filled with successful solutions. Supply Chain and Logistic managers tackle difficult supply chain problems every day, but they are so focused on getting their job done and making it through the day that they have little time to think of alternatives that may improve their processes and well being. I am not sure how we can help everyone, so let’s focus on the window shoppers. These are the ones that are aware of the café, but have never been inside. Maybe you are one?

If you are reading this blog, then you must be a window shopper. I am guessing you are looking for a better espresso. OK, you found “Profit Point”, although you may not know what we do. Guess what? Help is on its way. We can share our menu with you. We just published four videos that will introduce you to the Profit Point team and what we do. Embrace three minutes out of your day, select one of the videos, and watch it. Learn how we help companies improve their supply chain, by serving the best coffee with a smile.

Yes, you can improve your supply chain with our help. The supply chain solution that you are looking for, is about to be yours. And if you place an order, we can fill your cup to the top, with the “good triple certified” stuff. If you cannot seem to find that special item on our Supply Chain menu, then no fear, we love special orders.

So, is there a shortage of Supply Chain Cafés? No. You just need to find the one that serves the optimal latté. I know it’s out there somewhere.

To learn more about Profit Point’s Global Supply Chain Optimzation services, please contact us.

As Profit Point celebrates 15 years in business this week, we are reflecting on the many dimensions that has made our journey successful. One aspect of our company that too often flies below the radar, is our commitment to participating in, and giving back to, the communities where we work and live.

In order that you may better understand this aspect of our company, we’ve recently posted a summary of both our philosophy on this subject, and our accomplishments. Like all aspects of our business we set a clear strategy early, identified the appropriate tactics to support that strategy, and then implemented quickly and effectively.

We hope you will enjoy reading about our history of philanthropy.

At Profit Point we are in the ‘Science of Better’, and we are always looking for new ways to do business, both for our clients, and for ourselves.  When we started, we had the challenge of being a virtual company, that is, we have never had a corporate office space. Since 1995, each of us has always worked from home.  While there are numerous benefits of this style of company architecture, including having a family that actually knows who you are, and keeping the company’s overhead to a minimum, it also has its drawbacks. Like forcing each person to make the deliberate decision about when to start work, and harder still, when to stop work each day. We knew when we started this company that we wanted to keep our overhead costs low, so a virtual office seemed like the natural choice.

More recently, we have been faced with another challenge, how to reduce the cost of the projects we do. Projects in the supply chain business require a certain amount of industry and company specific knowledge.  Until recently, we had been building into our projects ample on-site time where the project team could gel and collaborate and build the trust that is needed for the free flow of ideas.  But the world has changed, and we have changed with it.   No longer are big travel budgets a normal part of the projects we see. So the challenge was: how to reduce the travel expense line item, without sacrificing the project speed or quality?

In the consulting business, there is sometimes no substitute for ‘face-time’.  So travel to the customer site perforce happens.  Over the course of the last 15 years, I have seen a marked drop in the amount of time that we need to travel, going from 60-70% a decade ago to less than 20% currently, and this has been brought about primarily by two factors: 1) Companies simply do not want to pay the travel expenses. Since 9/11, most major companies have been slashing their travel budgets, and expect their consultants to follow suit.  One particular project comes to mind where I had seen travel expenses that were as much as the consulting bill each month. But in general, we see pressure to reduce the travel expenses that are generated by projects across the board.  2) ‘Remote Touch’ Technology has provided the means to travel less.  There are some great remote desktop control tools that allow two or more people to have a telephone or VOIP conversation, and look at the same computer screen, to discuss and collaborate on ideas and tools.  These web based telephony and remote control tools have eliminated the need for travel to a greater extent than you might think.   Many of our projects today have only two face to face meetings, one to kick it off, and one to present the results or close it out.  Some of our clients are handled successfully without any face time. I must say though, that in our experience, low face-time projects only work well within the culture and language: that is, when language and culture barriers exist in the project team, face-time is the best way to bridge these gaps, and mitigate the risk of project overruns and delays.

In business, technology comes into being as a means to enable better business processes.  The processes that we use that are enabled by this remote touch technology includes an agile approach to solving business problems or developing software solutions.  We use several readily available web based tools every day in our business, and boy have they allowed us to reduce the travel expenses.  These include:

GotoMeeting.com

This is the best remote touch tool out there in our opinion.  Until a robust free app comes along, this will remain the best value for the money.  The best part of the app is the recent addition of the integrated VOIP, where you can use a head set (I would recommend the Logitech ClearChat PC Wireless Headset: http://www.logitech.com/en-us/webcam-communications/internet-headsets-phones/devices/4226) to join the integrated telecon line.  This has the advantage of freeing up your phone, and being instantly connected to the telecon as soon as you start it.  No more long telecon numbers with their passcodes! We use this many times every day, and it is the primary reason why we can travel less.

Box.net

This is a simple to use and secure web based file storage and sharing application that fosters and supports collaboration with people both in your company and externally.  We love this app, and my clients seem to as well.  Just drop a file into this app, and share it securely with anyone with an email address. Use it when email attachments just will not do, due to size limitations, or just when the email hassle is too much.

PivotalTracker.com

This is a terrific project management tool that is designed for agile projects, and makes it simple to create and manage user stories for tool development.  While inviting new members can be a hassle (since their email seems to get caught in many spam filters), once they are in, these folks have made a stellar user interface to manage the tasks in a project of nearly any size. Use it to track bugs too. We have done several projects using this tool. and we will be using it for many more.  Great tool.

TableauSoftware.com

If you like to look at data, like we like to look at data, then you will want to look at Tableau.  You can think of it like a pivot table / chart on steroids.  You open it, connect to you data, (whereever or what ever data you’ve got, it can connect to it), and then you start to explore your data like you’ve never been able to before. Like a pivot table, you can drag and drop fields, aggregate data along dimensions,  and make sums, etc, but the really cool part of Tableau is the part where it suggests new ways of the looking at the data.   Go ahead, make maps, heat charts, time phased graphs, whatever.  Then you can assemble the graphs into a dashboard. Dashboards are the best.  Want to see a ton of data distilled down into a very compact visually stunning view suitable for management? Get a copy of Tableau, and you can make that view in minutes.

Used appropriately, these tools, and others like them, have enabled us to travel less, and work faster and better. (and more!)

If you have other great apps like these that enable better business processes, I would love to hear about them.

Why do our customers come back to us over and over again? More than anything, I believe it is because they value the collaboration with our innovative team of creative supply chain thinkers.

There are two key concepts here: Collaboration” and “Innovation”. Let me say a few words about each.

Some companies are looking for external consultants to provide a roadmap, out of the box solution or tell-me-what-to-do best practices. Those companies typically are not our customers. Our customers are the ones who recognize the best partnerships are those that are collaborative: they actively bring unique knowledge and insights of their business and we provide best practices from across many industries, deep supply chain optimization expertise, and state of the art solutions that are practical, implementable and useable in all kinds of supply chain organizations. Together, we define, design and implement solutions that significantly improve supply chain operations in a sustainable and long-lasting way. Read the rest of this entry »

Supply chain optimization consulting firm selected as a top solution provider for supply chain decision makers.

Profit Point, the leading supply chain optimization solution company, was awarded the Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100 award for its role in improving supply chain decision making. Read the rest of this entry »

Jim Piermarini Recognized for Ability to Turn Supply Chain Managers in to Supply Chain Heroes

North Brookfield, MA (PRWEB) March 27, 2009

Profit Point, the leading supply chain optimization company, announced that CEO, CTO and Founder Jim Piermarini has been named a 2009 Supply & Demand Chain Executive “Provider Pro to Know.” Supply & Demand Chain Executive, the executive’s user manual for successful supply and demand chain transformation, announced the ninth-annual listing of Pros to Know in its February/March 2009 issue.

“This year’s Provider Pros to Know have shown themselves to be thought-leaders in their respective supply chain segments,” said Andrew K. Reese, editor of Supply & Demand Chain Executive. “Their efforts in developing the tools and processes that enable companies to weather risky economic conditions and place them in a position to surge ahead in better times have earned them a place on this year’s Provider Pros listing.”

The Supply & Demand Chain Executive Provider Pros to Know is a listing of individuals from a software firm or service provider, consultancy, or analyst or research firm who have personally helped clients during the current economic downturn by assisting them in managing risk in the supply chain, providing competitive advantage and/or delivering value to the bottom line.

“I am honored to be recognized by Supply & Demand Chain Executive as a Pro to Know,” said Piermarini. “I believe this award is a reflection of Profit Point’s team and our collective ability to deliver practical solutions to complex supply chain decisions. Our unique combination of supply chain expertise and software, enables us to make heroes out of our clients, especially in these economic uncertain times.”

Profit Point’s supply chain optimization services provide clients with clear, actionable guidance that accounts for the many what-if scenarios facing their businesses in these uncertain economic times. By optimizing the supply chain network design, Profit Point’s clients are able to recoup millions of dollars in annual operating costs.

To learn more about Profit Point’s supply chain software and services, visit www.profitpt.com.

About Profit Point:
Profit Point Inc. was founded in 1995 and is now a global leader in supply chain optimization. The company’s team of supply chain consultants includes industry leaders in the fields infrastructure planning, green operations, supply chain planning, distribution, scheduling, transportation, warehouse improvement and business optimization. Profit Point’s has combined software and service solutions that have been successfully applied across a breadth of industries and by a diverse set of companies, including Rohm and Haas, Dole Foods, Logitech and Toyota.

About Supply & Demand Chain Executive:
Supply & Demand Chain Executive is the executive’s user manual for successful supply and demand chain transformation, utilizing hard-hitting analysis, viewpoints and unbiased case studies to steer executives and supply management professionals through the complicated, yet critical, world of supply and demand chain enablement to gain competitive advantage. On the Web at www.SDCExec.com.

Contact:
Richard Guy
Profit Point
(866) 347-1130

http://www.profitpt.com

Uncertainty can be a tremendous challenge when it comes to managing a project. How much will a project cost? How long will it take to complete it? As a client, wouldn’t you like to know exactly what a project will cost and when it will be completed to be able to determine whether a project will achieve what you intend with a satisfactory return before you commit to it?

For most of our projects, we work with our clients to develop a project scope and commit to delivering that scope at a fixed price with a fixed timeline. Our customers appreciate this approach because it gives them a good understanding of what the project will entail and they know the cost up front. Our approach takes time and effort before the project starts but in the end our clients and Profit Point benefit.

How does this happen?

We rigorously develop a scope to the point that we are comfortable in understanding what the client wants and the client is comfortable with what we will deliver. The scope is detailed enough such that we are both confident of a successful project but not so detailed that we can’t change course somewhat as the project enfolds. Our customers appreciate our collaborative approach and being flexible when assumptions that we were made up front don’t pan out exactly the way we both expected.

Then we very carefully manage the scope of the project to ensure that the deliverables are met. For minor changes we typically just take care of them without any additional cost to the client. For more major scope changes we will develop a separate scope for them with a separate fixed price.

Our average 20 years experience allows us to operate this way. Our supply chain consultants have been completing successful projects for many years. We know not only the technical details of our consulting practice but how to deliver those technical details that ultimately delivers what the client wants in a way where both the client and Profit Point benefit. How can we do this for you today?

This article was written by Mark Rockey, Profit Point’s Production Scheduling Practice Leader.

To learn more about our supply chain optimization services, contact us.

People ask… What do you do? My response: “We help companies do things better.” Specifically we help supply chain and manufacturing executives “do things better”. It might be better planning, better scheduling, better processes, or several other areas of better. We receive calls and emails on a daily basis from executives, managers, analysts, and other consultants that want to share their business pain with us. Many want to improve their supply chain operations by reducing costs. Many executives have a fairly good idea of what keeps them up at night, and they want to share their challenges with us to see if we can offer any help. Almost all have an idea on how to make things better, but they are unclear on how to start the process or how to make the magic happen.

Sometimes we cannot help. Many times we can.

We listen. We ask questions. We ask for clarification. Then, we restate the “thing that they want to do better” in our vocabulary to get validation that we understand. They might be searching for software. They might be searching for services. Many times it’s a combination of both, but in all cases, people are searching for solutions.

Deliverables can take the form of improved technology with the tools that a company already owns, or with new tools. A good consultant does not promise the big “solve everything button.” A good consultant will understand the goal and match results with expectations.

Many times this takes the form of delivering services and software that is customized to individual clients needs. It could take the form of optimizing your supply chain. It’s not reinventing the wheel. It’s inflating the tire to the correct air pressure depending on the road conditions. When the economy get’s rocky, you might need better tires. So, when your problems become challenging, maybe it’s time to get a better approach.

So what do supply chain consultant’s offer? They help supply chain and manufacturing executives do things better.

If you would like to learn more about our Optimization services, please contact us. And if you would like to receive future updates on the supply chain optimization industry, subscribe to our SCO Journal and our SCO Newsletter.

Contributed by Richard Guy, Profit Point’s Director of Sales

Profit Point is about “The Science of Better”, specializing in the improvement of a wide range of business processes in multiple industries. We have solved business problems in the following areas and more:

• Supply Chain Optimization
• Supply Chain Assessments
• Workforce Scheduling
• Market Response Modeling
• Procurement Optimization
• Financial Portfolio Optimization
• International Tax Optimization
• Territorial Planning and Routing
• Sports and Event Scheduling
• Mathematical Modeling Use and Implementation Training

Profit Point has designed and delivered over 50 different strategic and tactical applications to various sized companies, ranging from $60M to $30B in annual revenues.

Our “People, Process and Technology” approach has allowed these companies to become more productive and has saved them millions of dollars via efficiency and process improvements.

To learn more about how Profit Point can help make your supply chain better, contact us here:

(866) 347-1130 or
(435) 487-9141

Send us an Email