Looking Good!

The special New Year / Year of the Rabbit issue of Vietnam Supply Chain Insight magazine is out - and I'm in it. This is a good looking magazine (and the articles are good too), and I'm proud to be in it.

Here's the English version of my article. And here's the Vietnamese version.

Feel free to let me know which language I sound better in.

Pontificate

I'm going to speak to an accounting class at UH tomorrow (University of Hawaii Shidler College of Business). Hopefully I will be more engaging than just standing in front of the room pontificating. Although I think I would look pretty good in a Pope's hat.

Shirely Daniel (Professor, PhD, all around good egg) invited me to speak to her senior level (undergrad) management accounting class. I do have a degree in accounting, although that's not what I do. But looking at the sample of materials she's sent me, the class is more about good business than just a narrow view of accounting.

The class includes discussions of Lean and Supply Chain Management as these topics relate to the accounting function. This is right up my alley, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Front Page News

It looks like Vietnam Supply Chain Insight magazine is going to re-launch after a brief hiatus. This is the magazine that I write a column for.

I also noticed that they have updated their website. Instead of the static starter site they previously had up, this one is content rich.

But imagine my surprise when I found my article front and center, very prominent at the top of the page. I'm going to be famous someday!

Of course, the only way I knew my article was so prominently displayed is because I spotted my name. The magazine is written in Vietnamese, and my articles are translated when I send them in. But being the curious type, I wondered if I could view the site in English. The site doesn't have an English language version, but I tried Google Translation.

So Google isn't the best translator, but you can sort of get the gist of my article (and the others). Check out the translated version here.

Someday I'll Be Famous

I have a column in this new Supply Chain magazine in Vietnam, Vietnam Supply Chain Insight. I just received the first two issues. Of course, I can't read my own articles, but that's my name there. I can't read the Russian edition of my book either. Is there a trend here?

I title the column The Supply Chain Begins With You, but I really have no idea if they use that or not.

I wish the magazine great success, and I hope I can contribute to that success. The magazine is very well done. It looks very good. I wish I could read it.

And doesn't that fellow on the cover of the first issue look suspiciously like me?

Late Late Supply Chain Show

I haven't watched this whole video yet, but the part about the origin of the term kanban is great. It starts about 3 minutes in. I think I'm going to have to "borrow" the demonstration the next time I give a presentation on Lean.

Take a look.

Another China Toy Recall

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifAnother made in China. When will it end? And why is it happening in the first place? There's a lot of talk about increasing inspections, as we hear with the issues surrounding tainted food and pet food. But, for the 1,000,000th time, you can't inspect quality into a product. You can weed out a select few items that are bad, or don't meet standards or specifications, but that's not the solution to the problem. The companies that are importing the products blame the manufacturers. That's certainly no solution either.

What's needed is a comprehensive management plan that includes detailed specifications for all products. That may include chemicals and additives that are allowed and those that are not. The importers, also known as customers to the manufacturers, need to work more closely with their suppliers. Create partnerships, not necessarily financial partnerships, but working relations partnerships. If necessary, work with the suppliers to develop modern and sophisticated management systems, that include dynamic and reliable quality management systems. The big boys, like WalMart, Target, and others have a lot of influence. Don't try to muscle or threaten your suppliers, but work with them for mutual benefit. Many Chinese manufacturers are very sophisticated and have management employees with Western management education and training. Use that talent, support it, and enhance it. Send some people over to your suppliers to develop, in concert, the types of systems that are needed to prevent problems from entering the supply chain, not to try to inspect them out at the end of the chain.