Part 4 of "The New Supply Chain" blog series by Mike Loquercio, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Expert.

I think we should all take a moment and recognize the extraordinary efforts by everyone involved in healthcare, police and fire departments, emergency responders, research scientists, lab workers, social workers, ANYONE helping feed and shelter the homeless and the entire list of essential employees making a difference.

We are still seeing shortages of PPE and medical equipment, food crops and products with expiring shelf life, stores with empty shelves, and other parts of the supply chain working to make it day to day.

It’s hard to be a leader right now. You have people relying on you that are worried about their jobs, scared that they or someone in their family may become ill, or are just incapacitated by the overwhelming sequence of events that have occurred due to the COVID-19 crisis. At the same time, you may have some of these same worries and concerns. So, how do you take care of yourself and all the others who are relying on you?

This is an original article taken from the NIST Baldrige blog, written by Harry Hertz, Director Emeritus of the Baldrige Program. 

Over the past 1 1/2 years two iconic corporate leaders of the 20th and early 21st century passed away: Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines and Jack Welch of General Electric. Both built phenomenally successful companies during their tenures. Both had unique leadership styles, that differed in many ways. However, there were a number of striking similarities, that provide leadership lessons for all times and some specific pointers for surviving times of crisis. Not surprisingly, these are characteristics called out in the Baldrige Excellence Framework and displayed by leaders of Baldrige Award recipient organizations across all sectors. Let me share the characteristics I gleaned from numerous readings about these two leaders and summarized in these articles about Kelleher and Welch. I will relate them to the Baldrige framework and then to important lessons for times of challenge.

You shouldn’t wait until an employee is exposed to or tests positive for the COVID-19 virus. Rather, you should create a facilities plan that will help keep your employees as safe as possible.

Here are some things to consider as you develop your plan:

Part 3 of "The New Supply Chain" blog series by Mike Loquercio, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Expert.

Co-authored by Ben Krupowicz, Executive Director of the IMEC Recognition Program and Holly Bender, IMEC Recognition Program Specialist.

It all happened in March.  The impact of the Coronavirus became real with social distancing and the stay-at-home order in Illinois.  We listen for updates, statistics and clarity on a daily, even hourly basis.   This is a period of great uncertainty.  We look for answers. How serious is this pandemic, and how long will it last?

Part 2 of "The New Supply Chain" blog series by Mike Loquercio, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Expert.

The first reaction to a severe supply chain disruption is “organized chaos” and then you attempt to rebalance and update all your purchasing, replenishment, planning, distribution, and warehouse parameters.

Regardless of what is going on in the world and within our community, company leaders must be able to effectively communicate when a quick response is needed. Here are three methods for communicating with your workforce in a timely and reliable manner:

Part 1 of "The New Supply Chain" blog series Mike Loquercio, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Expert

For those of us in the supply chain field, we may or may not have sophisticated systems that provide big data relative to sales, markets, items, transit times, on-time delivery, shipped in full, and all the other metrics that help assess the health of the supply chain.

Depending upon your products, customers, and your manufacturing footprint, the most recent crisis may have taxed your supply chain to its limits or maybe you have a business continuity plan (BCP) that encompasses all the challenges.

An original article by Nico Thomas, Performance Analyst for the Program Evaluation and Economic Research  group of NIST MEP.

Technology is the single greatest challenge (and opportunity) for the manufacturing industry … or is it? It’s true that technology has evolved and changed how manufacturers—especially small and medium-sized manufacturers—operate their businesses, in ways that even a few years ago didn’t seem possible.