Hi, my name is Jim Tompkins, President and CEO of Tompkins Associates and Tompkins International.
I am pleased to welcome back today Bruce Tompkins, the Executive Director of the Benchmarking and Best Practice Supply Chain Consortium. Bruce, in addition to being my brother, is an accomplished industrial engineer, having a Bachelor's and Masters degree in Industrial Engineering and then going onto Maytag, where after 20 years he became the vice president of manufacturing.
Bruce has been here at Tompkins for 9 years and 3 years ago took over the leadership of the Supply Chain Benchmarking and Best Practice Consortium. It is this Supply Chain consortium that will be the topic of this fifth series of our Supply Chain podcast.
Bruce, welcome back and I know what we have put together is five questions that kind of introduce the consortium and allow people to really understand the Supply Chain Consortium is accomplishing.
Thanks for being with us. Let me begin with the question, what is the Supply Chain Consortium, and when did it get started?
Bruce:
Thanks Jim, appreciate the introduction. First of all, what the supply chain consortium is, is a group of companies who have come together to pool their resources and share benchmarks and best practices with each other; the idea being that they can learn a lot from each other, whether they are in the same industry or in a different industry, but do the same practices and processes across the supply chain. The original founders were three companies that started this back in 2003 and those three companies really had the division for the consortium as it is today.
By 2004 they had recruited fifty companies to participate and those companies began to enter data into a system and that is really when Tompkins Associates got involved to help pull this together. The foundings of the consortium date back to 2003, and then 2004 when it really got its start.
Jim:
Bruce, what is the role of Tompkins Associates with the consortium?
Bruce:
The role that Tompkins Associates plays in the consortium is an interesting one, because the consortium is an independent group of companies, so they really need someone, some organization to be the arms and legs for them in their benchmarking efforts and Tompkins plays that role. We began to work with the consortium in 2004 and helped build the database and system that is in use today for Benchmarking and Best Practices. So Tompkins was involved from a fairly early point. The other advantage that Tompkins Associates brings is a real depth of knowledge in the supply chain. So we are not only the experts in collecting data, doing surveys and writing reports that the consortium members need, we also have that supply chain background that help us understand the information that we are providing.
Jim:
Bruce, what kinds of organizations are in the consortium and how large is it?
Bruce:
The kinds of organizations that make up our consortium as it exists today are pretty wide and varied. In fact, they go across thirteen different industries and can be companies from the retail segment from manufacturing or from wholesaling and distributing. So a very broad mix of companies. Today we have over 300 companies that are active participants in the surveys that we do. So those are companies that are adding data to our system and adding to our total database.
Again, they come from a variety of different industries beginning with apparel, all the way through to pharmaceutical, food and beverage, including retailers in those spaces, as well as the manufacturers that support them. We have a very good group of companies. Some of the leading manufacturers and retailers in North America and the world are part of the consortium, and we see that growing substantially as time passes.
Jim:
Bruce, the fourth question has to do with the leadership of the consortium, are there supply chain members who participate in that way?
Bruce:
The Supply Chain Consortium is led by an advisory board. This board is very important to the functioning of the consortium, they are really the glue that hold the companies together and the companies that are on our board for 2009 are Target, the Coca-Cola Company, MillerCoors, Ingram Micro, Hewlett Packard, TrueValue, Hallmark, Kraft Foods, and Campbell Soup Company. So very recognizable names by most everyone.
Not only are they recognizable, but the individuals that participate from these companies are all senior leaders within their companies and have extensive supply chain knowledge. We are blessed to really have a group of advisors that have the background to help this consortium move forward. Tompkins Associates meets with the Advisory Board on a regular basis to get their feedback and to understand where they would like to see the consortium move in the future. This is a rotating board, so members join the board and then serve a term and rotate off. So we give companies from other industries and segments to participate in a leadership role.
Jim:
And lastly Bruce, what are the basic philosophies that the consortium strives to achieve for its members?
Bruce:
The basic philosophies of the consortium really were engrained in us when the consortium first got started. The major things that the consortium companies are looking for and that the leadership group of the consortium drive us for is really three major things:
1. Data and having access to data for the members. This is not the kind of group where the data is only reported to companies and individuals. We are a very hands-on, get access to the data yourself, kind of organization. That was one of the philosophies from the beginning.
2. The information that is driven from this data, in other words the best practices and the sharing of knowledge, is very, very important. We spend a lot of our time, in fact our database is very heavily built around the best practices and processes that companies use to generate their improvements. Information in the fashion of best practices and then from the networking of our members with each other is very important to how we do what we do.
3. Converting the data and information into actual items, so knowledge: Really turning that into tactical and strategic tools that people can use and understand within their companies. The database has a variety of different data analysis tools that are built into it and those tools are geared towards helping people understand where the gaps are in their supply chains, so that they can create strategic plans and execute tactical implementations, to help them move forward with their supply chains.
So that is an overview of what the consortium is about, the role that Tompkins plays in it, who is in our consortium and how big it is at this point, and the leadership team that makes up the board for the consortium, also some of the philosophies that are engrained in our process. I think the direction as we move forward will be to increase our activity into all of these levels, including using LinkedIn for personal networking amongst our members, providing additional data and benchmarks for people, and increasing the number of surveys that we complete. That is the bottom line on what the consortium is all about. Thanks Jim, look forward to our next discussion on the Supply Chain Consortium.
Jim:
Thank you very much Bruce, I certainly appreciate you being with us today on this fifth series and providing us with an introduction to the supply chain consortium.
The next session in this series will be consortium services and activities. Thanks much, will talk to ya'll soon.
