Supply Chain Diagnoses and Prescriptions: Solutions Looking for Problems

Have you even been to the Varsity? The Varsity restaurant is an Atlanta landmark a couple of blocks from here and I encourage you to go there…… ONCE!

We get a hankering for the Varsity about once a quarter. They have the world’s best (and maybe only) Chili Cheese Slaw Hot Dogs and Glorified Hamburgers. I can also highly recommend the greasiest, but best tasting onion rings you’ll ever have, and a Frosted Orange or Chocolate Shake. It’s a great place to get a fast meal. But it’s not the highest quality food in the world and you will remember it if you’ve been there. You will remember it for a while.

One of the other things you will remember about The Varsity is that there is no connection between what you order and what they bring; and no connection between either of those and what they charge. It’s part of the ambiance. The good news is that whatever they bring you, it’s good and inexpensive.

Now, let’s suppose you are flying into Atlanta for this seminar. It’s a long flight and for whatever reason the airline decides to not serve any food. The plane is late and gets in at 2:00 in the morning. You’re hungry, but the only place that’s open is the Varsity which is open 24 hours a day. There are some strange characters over there at 2:00 am – so be careful if you decide to go.

Suppose you take the risk and go. You are totally unaware of the reputation of the Varsity. You order a chilli-chese-slaw-dog, glorified burger and fries. When you get back to the hotel, it’s 3:30 am and you are not feeling so good. You call down to the hotel front desk asking for a doctor somewhere nearby. It turns out there’s a 24 hour ”Doc-In-A-Box” about 6 blocks away.

You head over to the “Doc-In-A-Box” and drive into the parking lot. The doctor meets you in the parking lot. He’s running to you with your prescription. He has you roll down the window and hands you your prescription.

Is that a good doctor or a bad doctor?

BAD doctor!

What should the doctor do? Check your symptoms – where did you come from – what did you eat – what’s your temperature – what’s your blood pressure - what’s your EKG – etc. Then write you a prescription.

What does that have to do with RightChain Insights? Here’s the connection. Many of our clients are running around with supply chain prescriptions handed to them by someone who never diagnosed their situations; new hardware gizmos they found at a trade show; new software vendors called to tell them about; new supply chain services read about in a magazine. And we are trying to find something for this new thing to solve. But, they don’t even know if there is an issue that needs to be solved.

RightChain Insights is an Ai-based decision technology suite designed to pinpoint the greatest opportunities for improvement in supply chain operations and design. The suite employs advanced pattern recognition capability with deep analysis of supply chain performance measures in mining and valuing supply chain opportunities for improvement. It’s like having the world’s most sophisticated supply chain diagnostics at your finger tips.

Click here to learn more about RightChain Insights.