7 februari 2012

Gus Pagonis - Leadership lessons from Sears and
US Army

Hi Gus, thanks for answering our questions! We are looking forward to your speech during our meeting in April. What are your main topics?
- No problem! My first topic is "Techniques to improve the efficiency of your supply Chain". And on my second session I will talk about "Leadership needed for the Supply Chain".

What is the key knowledge you bring us after your speach?
- I will be sharing leadership techniques from my 30 years of military experience and from my 25 years in the public and private sectors of the business world. These have been successful for me in operating the Supply Chain and can be tailored to meet the needs of logisticians in Sweden in their efforts to improve their Supply Chain. Bottom line: common sense and realistic tools that can be used.

On a Youtube clip you state that there is no major difference between logistics at Sears or in the US Army, except for one thing: you can’t do mistakes with supplies and ammunition because life depends on it in a war. How do you handle that? What do you do to secure this and handle the pressure?
- You handle this by paying attention to details! You determine what the mission is and the items needed to accomplish it rather than to do the “what if drill”, attempting to anticipate anything that can go wrong. Of course, something will go wrong that you didn’t completely think of, but there will be some type of relationship to something in your drill exercise. I handle the pressure by exercising daily regardless of the situation: bad weather, work, etc. And most of all I always think of how I take care of my "troops" both in the military and the civilian worlds.

Service level here I guess is 100% but in retail that is often too expensive. When is it too expensive in a war? Is this measured?
- In war, limited assets becomes the critical issue. Not enough trucks to transport or the terrain is too difficult to negotiate etc. Normally money isn’t the issue in a war but the limited assets at your disposal to operate are. This requires great attention to detail and ensuring no waste. Transfer this to the civilian world and these techniques become very effective. Assume you must work within your budget and cut back expenses without hurting service. Tough to do but can be done!

Nordic Supply Chain Meeting 2012

Nordic Supply Chain Meeting på Chalmers i Göteborg är mötesplatsen och inspirationskällan för logistik, supply chain, planering, inköp och verksamhetsförbättring.

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