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ChainSequence: Unique Approach to Impart Consistent Business Process

Bill Mrzlak, President, Co-founder & Managing Partner

“To ensure that operations run as efficiently and effectively as possible, it’s crucial that business processes supporting today’s complex supply chain marketplaces and networks are integrated with sales and operations (S&OP) goals,” begins Bill Mrzlak, President, Co-founder and Managing Partner of ChainSequence, Inc. While some form of traditional supply chain planning exists in all organizations, in many cases, these processes focus only on short-term goals. Given that supply chain networks are more complex and challenging than ever before, large, and especially global, manufacturing enterprises must cover a broad set of functional areas.

Developing the right supply chain and S&OP planning business process takes considerable time and effort. ChainSequence—a consulting group specializing in business process improvement, organizational development, and process ownership— applies educational components with targeted metrics to ensure positive change management and healthy ROI. “We coach and guide our clients to develop business processes that allow for continuous improvement over time,” adds Mrzlak.

Mrzlak points out that a well-developed process, rather than a specific technology, is the key to success, stressing, “Developing an S&OP process that lacks sound fundamental supply chain planning processes can be best described as building a house on a foundation of sand—while the house will go up, it will eventually, and inevitably, crumble.” “As we develop an S&OP process, we look to validate the existence of sound business processes and quality data from supply chain planning to support that S&OP process,” adds Mrzlak.

While current technology does a good job supporting the complex nature of customer demands, Mrzlak notes that one-off requests almost always occur, requiring custom development or customization of a stock software suite. These issues come with both a financial and a time-delay price tag.

As we develop an S&OP process, we look to validate the existence of sound business processes and quality data from Supply Chain planning

“We collaborate with each client to determine the absolute must-have capabilities that best fit their business, while discarding non-essential deviations,” says Mrzlak. By design, ChainSequence maintains a software systems- and tools-agnostic stance. Using a rigorous process of vendor evaluation and selection methodology, ChainSequence guides manufacturing organizations in making appropriate strategic decisions through careful consideration of ROI against supporting a customer-requested requirement. Over the years, ChainSequence has helped many different clients implement a wide range of diverse software systems and tools.

The key parameter that sets ChainSequence apart is its knowledge-share philosophy—which delivers game-changing guidance—in teaching clients how best-practice supply chain planning and S&OP solutions can improve market share. One of ChainSequence’s customers is a very large international supplier and manufacturer of semiconductors with an internal supply chain for their own products. When this client decided to expand, providing semiconductors to the external market as well, it required a complete re-engineering of the entire supply chain from demand planning through order fulfillment. “Defining a customer and product segmentation methodology was critical to successfully meeting the needs of their top customers, while balancing competitive service levels and effectively managing inventory concurrently,” states Mrzlak. ChainSequence introduced a centralized Supply Chain Planning Center of Excellence model that maximized the manufacturer’s worldwide resources, balanced automation and human intervention, reduced previously elongated administrative cycle times, and increased customer responsiveness.

Forging ahead, ChainSequence continues to respond to changing demands of customers in the international marketplace, incorporating new scenarios and technology advancements into its business process models to improve efficiencies and best support evolving needs. “We will also continue to expand our presence in the consumer products, retail, and service-oriented industry sectors, expanding our customer base overseas,” concludes Mrzlak.