Tompkins: Assess Supply Chain, Utilize Benchmarking and Best Practices to Boost the Bottom Line

Raleigh, NC, October 23, 2008 -- In this volatile economy, businesses are in a continuous shuffle to make the right moves to improve processes and reduce costs. But how do you best determine top business priorities in such an environment? Assess your company's supply chain and employ benchmarking and best practices, according to Tompkins Associates' (Tompkins) recent Global Supply Chain Podcasts.

The podcasts, Identifying the Correct Supply Chain Opportunities and The Rest of the Supply Chain Assessment Story, help organizations pinpoint their top supply chain priorities -- where they need to spend time and energy -- and develop a course of action based on solid data and performance comparisons with top-level companies.

John Spain, Partner at Tompkins and expert speaker on the recent podcast, says, "The best approach is to start with a comprehensive assessment of your supply chain to find out exactly where you are. Then, by benchmarking your supply chain against others, you can find the gaps in performance and identify areas that need improvement."

To get the biggest bang for your buck, Spain suggests starting with initiatives that are relatively easy and quick to implement, but have a significant positive impact on the bottom line.

At the same time, companies need to make sure they are improving -- not just altering -- their processes by benchmarking themselves against comparable, top-performing companies and implementing the practices those companies are utilizing to achieve a highly efficient supply chain.

"To have value," says Jim Tompkins, President and CEO of Tompkins, "a benchmark must be specifically focused on a specific situation." He adds, "But if all I know is the benchmark, I don't know anything. That is, I don't know how to improve. This is where the best practices come in."

With benchmarking and best practices, you have the ability to identify the specific process that needs to be changed to improve performance.

The most recent podcast also includes an interview with Bruce Tompkins, Executive Director of the Supply Chain Consortium, and provides more information on benchmarking and best practices.

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E-mail Myra Schwartz or call 919-855-5533.

About Tompkins Associates
Tompkins Associates designs and integrates global end-to-end solutions for companies that embrace supply chain excellence. For more than 30 years, Tompkins has evolved with the marketplace to become the leading provider of global supply chain services, distribution operations consulting, technology implementation, material handling integration, and benchmarking and best practices. The company is headquartered in Raleigh, NC. Subscribe to the site feed for instant updates