01 · Situation
Under pressure, and under the microscope.
A product recall had affected about 70% of the company’s product. Service levels had dropped to around 60%, well below the 80%-plus the business normally ran.
Market share and on-time deliveries were slipping, and every decision was under intense scrutiny.
02 · Problem
One plant couldn’t do both jobs.
The home plant had to keep up with customer demand and fix its own operations at the same time. It couldn’t do both well.
The answer was to qualify more than 30% of the in-house product portfolio at third-party contract manufacturers. That would free up capacity so the plant could focus on getting healthy.
03 · Action
Move the right products to the right partners.
- Qualify 110 products. I led the supply chain team through qualifying each product at outside manufacturers.
- Decide with data. Each sourcing decision weighed cost structure, material availability, quality record, and proximity to where demand was forecast, to keep freight down.
- Plan supply and demand together. SAP, demand planning, supply planning, and inventory management kept product flowing across both the plant and its partners.
- Give the Board one clear picture. I built and maintained a data model and dashboard, presented every week to the Board and senior executives.
04 · Result
The shelves stayed stocked. The plant got well.
The dual-sourcing program took more than 30 million units of production off the home plant. That breathing room let the facility and its operations be remediated in an expedited 12 months.
Product availability improved 49%.
The in-house product portfolio
Service level
~60% at the low point, after the recall
Sometimes the fastest way to fix a plant is to stop asking it to do everything at once.
Relieve the pressure first. Then fix what’s underneath.