Supply chains in Australia/New Zealand (ANZ) and Europe are much more focused on responsiveness. The United States and Japan, meanwhile, have maintained their focus on profitability. In addition, the ANZ supply chain is being tasked with ongoing cost reduction, hence the new supply chain challenge: how to maintain cost control (and profitability) and, at the same time, meet new demands for service and flexibility. The answer to this challenge is being refined in boardrooms, factories and distribution centres across ANZ. By comparing survey results from ANZ and Europe with those from the United States and Japan, it is clear that responsiveness is leading to an increased focus on: - Customer-driven planning - synchronising supply, managing demand
- Effective order fulfilment through realtime order processing and logistics excellence, as measured by the "perfect order"
- Correctly identifying customer needs during product development; as well as managing product introduction to deliver the "perfect product launch"
- Procurement opportunities through global strategic sourcing and supplier collaboration.
What are the leaders doing? The top supply chains appear to have a common trait: the ability to respond quickly to shifts in demand with innovative products and services, enabled by responsive processes and systems. These supply chains are better able to meet cost, responsiveness and profitability objectives, by developing supply chain models that are strategically driven and aligned to their business environment (including products, markets, suppliers and customers). They are also consistently measuring their supply chain performance based on key indicators, such as: - Perfect order attainment
- Demand management accuracy
- Time-to-market
- Cash-to-cash cycle time
- Supply chain cost.
Over to you Delivering on cost and profitability can be hard. Adding responsiveness may be harder. The chances are that if your company is not already facing these challenges, it will soon. This report presents the supply chain management progress of ANZ respondents as a whole and of the leaders in particular. To read the full report, download the PDF file at the top of this page. | 
