The Questions Operations Leaders Are Facing Today

• How do we redesign our supply chain for today’s world while improving cost, service, and growth?

  Redesigning the supply chain today requires shifting from efficiency-driven design to decision-driven orchestration, where cost, service, and resilience are managed together, not separately.

  Most supply chains struggle because operations are fragmented, lacking cohesive end-to-end strategy, and failing to account for competitive dynamics. This leads to siloed, incremental actions that limit performance gains and miss opportunities to establish the supply chain as a competitive advantage. The fix is to:

  • Define the supply chain requirements to meet the business strategy
  • Make necessarily tradeoffs across cost, service, and risk
  • Segment flows and service levels instead of applying uniform policies
  • Strategically integrate digital and AI as a core component of operations
  • Embed decision rights into planning and execution forums

   

  When these changes are in place, organizations can improve cost, optimize service, and support growth, because the system is built to perform under volatility.

• Where can AI and digital drive step-change performance, and how do we scale it across operations?

  AI and digital drive step-change performance when they are applied to redesigned workflows and decision processes, not layered onto existing ones.

  Most organizations stall at pilot stage because ownership, incentives, and operating models don’t change. The highest-impact use cases typically focus on:

  • Eliminating work through automation
  • Improving decisions across the value chain, including planning, production, and distribution
  • Raising frontline productivity and empowering decisions

   

  Scaling requires embedding these into daily operations, not running them as separate initiatives. Done right, this delivers measurable gains in productivity, cycle time, and cost, not just incremental improvements.

• How do we operate in constant disruption, and what capabilities do we need to sense and respond faster?

  Operating in constant disruption requires building an organization that can sense changes early, make decisions quickly, and execute without delay.

  Most companies have spent considerable time discussing disruption, but lack established monitoring, plans, and clear execution ownership, so response times lag. The capabilities that matter are:

  • Real-time sensing of demand, supply, and risk signals
  • Established response and contingency plans
  • Clear decision rights to act without delay
  • Execution cadence that resolves issues early

   

  Embedding these into the operating model reduces firefighting, improves service stability, and lowers the cost of disruption.

• What should we outsource vs keep in-house to reduce cost, free up capacity, and stay focused on core capabilities without increasing operational risk?

  The right outsourcing decisions come from defining which capabilities create advantage, and simplifying the work before deciding where it sits.

  Many organizations outsource inefficient processes, locking in cost and complexity. A better approach is to think bolding and evaluate:

  • Strategic importance of the capability
  • Control and risk requirements
  • Scale and cost advantages externally

   

  Only after redesigning the work should ownership be decided. This results in lower structural cost, clearer accountability, and reduced operational risk, while freeing capacity for higher-value activities.

• What does a successful operations transformation actually look like in practice, and how do we make it stick?

  A successful operations transformation delivers measurable EBIT and cash impact, and embeds those gains into how the business runs.

  In practice, this means:

  • A bankable plan with line-owned targets
  • Early value delivery to build momentum and fuel the transformation
  • A results cadence that forces decisions and results delivery
  • Structural changes to processes, roles, and governance

   

  Transformations fail when they layer initiatives on top of existing ways of working. They stick when the system changes, so old behaviors cannot return. The result is durable performance improvement, not temporary cost reduction.