Is response management the next big thing in supply chain management?

A recent AMR Research article posed the question that headlines this blog entry.  Analysts Stephen Hochman, Jane Barrett and Mark Hillman question, and rightly so, traditional closed-loop planning and execution within supply chains based on changes specific to the electronics industry. Number one on their list is globalization, a trend that has forced pervasive outsourcing and the need to keep track of inventory spread across the globe. Shrinking product lifecycles also play a role, particularly for consumer electronics manufacturers, which sometimes spend more time getting a product to market and ramping it than they do designing it. Add to that channel consolidation and we have an environment that AMR’s article describes as a new era of “surprise and compromise” for discrete manufacturers.

AMR presents some hard numbers for consideration, especially in our Sarbanes-Oxley word of financial accountability where inventory is an asset. The U.S. high-tech industry, for example, will see order fill rates at 76 percent and fewer than 47 percent of product launches be successful, according to AMR. The firm suggests that response management, based on business intelligence and advanced planning, may be the next big thing in supply chain innovation.

Some would argue that it’s not the next big thing, it is the big thing now. Kinaxis Inc. would be one of them. The company earlier this month released its RapidResponse 9 response management solution and when chatting with them about it, Randy Littleson, VP of marketing, discussed the “surprise and compromise” era we work in as one that isn’t as much about getting people what they want, but getting it to them when they want it and doing so without risking unexpected inventory liability. “We are really seeing a marketplace where demand driven is the paradigm. The question then becomes which technologies will allow that to happen.”

For the full rundown on RapidResponse 9, you can visit Kinaxis’ site, but here a few of the highlights: events-based monitoring and alerting capabilities that allow users to respond to business exceptions rather than inspections; centralized alert management and viewing; and “TeamForm,” which automatically detects who in an organization is impacted by or could add insight to a proposed action. An optional application, “Inventory Liability Manager 9,” takes the tool a step further by integrating inventory liability into response management.

Check out RapidResponse 9 and let me know what you think. Will response management be the next big thing for supply chain management or is it just a piece of the puzzle? Share your thoughts below.