COMPANIES LOOKING TO GAIN A COMPETITIVE EDGE, LOOK NO FURTHER THAN YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN

Supply Chain Edge^SM, a new offering from Bain & Company, helps companies optimize their supply chains and deliver dramatic improvements in overall business results

New York – April 10, 2017 – In a slow-growth and highly competitive environment, a strong supply chain can make or break a company. While many executives understand the need for supply chain improvement, they presume that breakthrough performance is unattainable. In response, Bain & Company created Bain Supply Chain Edge^SM, a new suite of tools and methodologies that empower companies to wield their supply chain as a strategic weapon by assessing trade-offs across four strategic and measurable attributes—cost & efficiency, reliability, agility, and responsiveness.

Bain has deep experience in helping companies with some of their toughest supply chain strategy and operational challenges. The firm helps clients grow and sustain their competitive advantage through innovative operational designs and effective cross-company collaboration. This distinct approach delivers results that typically outpace the industry norms: accelerated revenue growth with an average 15X realized return on fees; enhanced customer satisfaction and advocacy; unlocked savings and cash flow; with minimized risk and increased reliability.

“We’re often asked, ‘How do we make our supply chain more effective? How do we bring the supply chain into our front-line thinking?’” said Peter Guarraia, who leads Bain’s Supply Chain Practice. “Based on our extensive experience, we’ve found that world-class supply chains are active partners with the business. Specifically, these supply chains are linked tightly with an enterprise strategy, and they focus on supporting a seamless experience, which helps to build overall customer loyalty. We believe Supply Chain Edge SM can pave the way for potentially dramatic improvements in a company’s performance.”

Bain Supply Chain Edge^SM combines cutting-edge digital technology, a suite of proprietary and third-party partner tools, and unmatched expertise:

• Bain Supply Chain Edge 360 diagnostic is a holistic, end-to-end health check – including a proprietary assessment of organization performance (Bain Supply Chain Navigator) – that provides the foundation for large-scale supply chain reinvention and excellence.
• Bain Supply Chain Edge Database provides a quantitative benchmark comparison of the supply chain operating model's KPIs relative to industry peers.
• Bain Supply Chain Center of Excellence enables a more flexible and comprehensive delivery model, providing dedicated cross-industry and advanced analytic support during the course of the engagement to ensure alignment with world-class supply chain standards. The Bain Supply Chain Advanced Analytics Group combines on-the-ground know-how with a range of sophisticated digital supply chain tools and the Bain Supply Chain Expert Network offers unparalleled supply chain expertise, complementing its internal supply chain experience with third-party experts.

As part of this expert network, Bain is collaborating with leading supply chain technology partners, such as Kinaxis, a provider of cloud-based supply chain management solutions and TBM a leading Lean Operations company. Pairing these specialized experts with the firm’s key supply chain partners enables Bain clients to more quickly and effectively innovate to disrupt or enhance their existing supply chain models and implement their own tailored approaches.

Bain also infuses its Results Delivery® approach throughout the entire process, emphasizing co-creation and change management that enable companies to create sustained results while adapting to changing customer needs over time.

“Executives know full well the impact that an optimized supply chain can have on their business, but harnessing that power can be a monumental undertaking,” said Joe Terino, head of Bain’s Americas Supply Chain Practice. “Bain Supply Chain Edge^SM brings the firm’s battle-tested approaches together with diagnostic tools and industry expertise to create an end-to-end view of the supply chain ecosystem and eliminate silos that make it difficult to adapt to broader business and market shifts.”

Editorial note: To receive a copy of report or arrange an interview with Mr. Guarraia or Mr. Terino, contact: Dan Pinkney at dan.pinkney@bain.com or +1 646 562 8102

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