Page 12 - Logistics News - December 2021

O P I N ION

Silver bullets or wooden stakes:

What tools do your supply chain

slayers need PC (post Covid)?

By Karen Pretorius, KPI Cubed

Today, in the PC (post Covid) world, experienced problem solvers are typically knowledge
workers and therefore prime candidates for WFH (work-from-home) opportunities. They are
not around on the floor as much as they were in the BC (before Covid) world. We need those
supply chain slayers to come closer, look at the problem, examine its victims and see the
symptoms to really tell the werewolves from the vampires.

hen faced with a supply chain problem, But, you may have your myths and monsters
we all like magical, quick-fix solutions. tangled up – silver bullets are meant to kill one
W We want it done… and done yesterday. specific enemy – the werewolf – and are not effective
This is why many of us go looking for the silver against all kinds of monsters. If you don’t know
bullet – that quick fix that will make the problem exactly what your problem looks like, it is easy to
disappear from a distance without really getting our choose the wrong weapon and to underestimate the
hands dirty. We often think we can solve problems complexity of that weapon.
from afar and that by just having that tool, we can
make the problem go away. However, a silver bullet needs a gun, and a gun
needs a skilled operator – one who can adjust for
distance, height and environmental conditions and
is very accurate. The silver bullet needs to penetrate
the heart. Silver bullets, guns and operators come at
a great cost and may not even slay your problem.

What if your problem is a vampire? A vampire
needs a wooden stake through the heart to
immobilise it before it is killed, with beheading the
most popular choice. The wooden stake is a rather
L O GI S T I CS NEWS cheap option compared to a silver bullet, but you still

need an expert operator – a brave Van Helsing – who
can get close enough to the problem to really identify
it. A vampire can shapeshift, and many times in our
operations we are not exactly sure what the problem

10 NO V E MB E R/D E C E MB E R 2021 www .l o g ist i csn e w s .c o .z a