REVIEW: Art Koch — The Supply Chain Revolution (BOOK)
Art Koch’s new book is so refreshingly upfront and self-explanatory. As superfluous as it is, let’s start with the title. A perfect encapsulation and thesis statement for everything that you’ll ascertain from the text. Simply put, The Supply Chain Revolution: Unlocking the Sustainable Profit Chain. This is also evidenced by Koch writing his own proviso, the sign in my mind of a true expert and someone comfortable in that expertise to provide the necessary, objective guardrails completely devoid of ego or showboating in any manner, or context.
WEBSITE: https://arthurkochmgt.com/the-supply-chain-revolution/
Obviously, it’s also a great way to avoid litigation, another sign of Koch’s complete, three hundred-and-sixty degree understanding of the world of business, down to its bare essentials. “Before my first dive, I viewed the ocean as nothing more than a vast reflective desert surface of waves. However, my view changed when I went into the water and experienced a significant emotional event.
Under that reflective surface, beneath the waves, lay a vast richness of beautiful coral reefs, shimmering fish, and ever-changing sand flats. All had their unique beauty, not unlike the beauty of tropical rain forests, botanical gardens, and great savannas,” he writes. “As a supply chain professional, I once looked across a sea of inventory at warehouses and manufacturing sites as nothing more than a faceless sea of boxes, crates, and pallets reflected under incandescent lights. Over the decades, as I dove deeper into supply chain and my proficiencies grew, I developed insights that challenged the status quo. I saw endless opportunities for establishing inventory pull processes, challenging legacy policies, and planning parameters to increase inventory velocity, customer loyalty, and profitability.”
Writing the book is essentially a somewhat intellectually exclusive roadmap. Koch is interested in essentially providing the ultimate how-to guide when it comes to sustainable profit chains, and he succeeds. There is no stone unturned here, no stat pertinent to maximizing the reader’s education and understanding not accounted for. While structurally it may at times come across as unwieldy and jam-packed for the uninitiated, for those cognizant and active in the field, it’s a dream. “This book focuses on the fundamentals of process integrity, people development and team engagement, and commitment by CEO and leadership to create a supply chain revolution. Without these, you will never successfully implement and realize the full potential of any important strategic initiative, let alone one as complex and fundamental to your company as the supply chain and its related systems and technology,” Koch writes. “In each chapter, I will share key concepts and case studies, which I call dive master briefings (client examples and success stories), to illustrate the concept further. Also, in each chapter, you’ll see a dive log (Art’s commentary) summarizing key points and learnings. Also, at the end of each chapter, I will wrap up with a buddy check: questions from Coach Art to summarize learnings and essential points for you to focus upon in your business improvement.”
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Supply-Chain-Revolution-Unlocking-Sustainable/dp/1637426089
By making things personable and palatable for the core audience, Koch succeeds in writing one of the better how-tos out there. He forgoes formalities and pretensions for a straightforward communicatory style, cutting through any potential mannerisms akin to spin and getting straight to the heart of the matter.
Colin Jordan
