This week on What the Duck?! Sarah Scudder welcomes Dennis Garvey, President of Kentbridge Consulting, a seasoned manufacturing and supply chain professional. Dennis discusses creating effective cross-department communication, his achievements in inventory accuracy and customer interactions, and challenges in procurement. He emphasizes data-driven decision-making, KPIs, and aligning goals for optimal company performance. With his diverse experiences and strong leadership, Dennis proves to be a valuable asset in the industry. Tune in to learn more! Show Highlights Achieving Inventory Accuracy and Inventory TurnsDriving Continuous Innovation in Customer Interactions Challenges in Managing Supply Chain and Procurement for FoodChallenges in Managing Supply Chain and Procurement for Metal SalesERP Implementation Challenges and Upfront PreparationStrategies for Effective Cross-Department Communication and Alignment MOMENTS TO DUCK AROUNDDENNIS: On Dealing with Perishable Inventory “We would see prices actually change more than once in a day. So, you know, that can be a great thing when your prices are going up because now you own inventory that just got more valuable, but vice versa, you can, you know, wind up having inventory that has lost value. And so, and you're already in the food distribution business, usually operating on pretty thin margins, so commodity pricing, perishable inventory, and thin margins make for a rather challenging procurement business. And I think like, you know, every other business, but perhaps a little bit on steroids with this sort of environment, is you have to be on top of your numbers, you have to be and you have to have some process disciplines in place so that if you wind up in a situation where you're long on inventory in a particular area that it's not moving, you have to have a process in place that says, "Okay, what's our discount policy? What's our action steps that we're going to initiate on day X to start to move this out the door in one way, shape, or form?" DENNIS: Managing Direct Materials and Procurement for Large Businesses“The first piece goes to, you know, putting in place data capture and KPIs and sort of designing what are the elements that you want to measure for evaluating your performance. And so, you know, when it comes to inventory or procurement side, you know, breaking your inventory into categories, you know, fast movers versus slow movers, you know, managing, you know, having the information to look at any particular SKU and see, you know, what's moving, what's not moving, and build that into a reporting system that, you know, gets looked at, you know, every week. You know, the purchasing director may be looking at that every day, but, you know, I would, you know, generally have a weekly staff meeting where everybody, you know, had their KPIs to report out on, and, you know, if everything was flowing smoothly and the numbers are going in the right direction, it was a relatively easy conversation. But if the numbers are not going in the right direction, there had to be some answers as to why, and there had to be accountability for actions to, you know, make corrections. But I think a lot of it flows from, you know, having the data available to be able to look at and evaluate how you're performing on the numbers. If you don't, you know, firm believer, if you don't know your numbers, you can't know your business.” Connect with Dennis Garvey and learn what he’s been duckin’ around with:Dennis Garvey Connect with Sarah and find out more about what the duck she’s up toLinkedIn |Twitter |SourceDay |SourceDay.com Had fun with the podcast? Leave us a like, share our content, and subscribe! See you soon on the next episode of What The Duck?!