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Executive Luncheon Success

My health issue spread over a 12-week period. In the middle of all of that, July 30th, I managed to restart my regular executive and business owner lunches which I had stopped because of COVID-19. I admit, I may have had a significant amount of painkillers running through my system on the day, but I did mange to deliver my thoughts and IP on what it takes to develop a resilient supply chain and I was able to engage in great conversations with the attendees. To be honest I am not sure how I did it, but I am pleased I did as it was a great day.

You can view a short video of the day’s proceedings below.

The lunch included some spectacular food from La Cache a Vin, some great French wine, both red and white, and great conversation and networking amongst everyone. I outlined the fundamentals of my supply chain model and how they contribute to building resiliency into your supply chain. One key element of the model is analysis of vulnerabilities and we deeply discussed key risks. We particularly discussed the elephant in the room, China, and asked the question: “What does your supply chain look and function like if we go to war with China?” We discussed different options, including other South East Asian countries and the potential that could be derived by looking east to Mexico and other South American countries.

We discussed the importance of capital utilisation and the impact the current supply chain disruption and ever increasing shipping costs and constraints are having on each business. Especially the additional drain on capital this is causing due to the need to increase inventory holdings and buffers and the greater role accurate cash flow projection is playing at the moment and how your use of ERP systems has to change to extract the value you need from them to help in these times and information demands. 

We discussed in particular some industry specifics, especially around the car industry and how Toyota had weathered the storm better than most and why that was, considering the supply shortage of computer chips. Interestingly this article was published shortly after the lunch, indicating they too had succumbed to the constraints in their supply chain in spite of their efforts to avoid it and had to cut production.

If you are a business owner or CEO/CFO and want to be included in these types of discussions and networking opportunities with like minded executives and couldn’t make the last one, please reach out to me to book your spot for the next one.

executive lunch

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