Page 21 - Logistics News - September October 2022

B O O K R EVIEW

Flow: How the Best Supply

Chains Thrive

With supply chain disruptions increasingly
discussed in the media and impacting our
daily lives, Flow: How the Best Supply Chains
Thrive by Rob Handfield and Tom Linton offers
an important framework and solutions for

remedying the rampant delays and bottlenecks
that exist in global supply chains.

his book describes the concept of flow,
which evokes physical properties that exist
T in nature such as the flow of electricity,
the flow of materials and the flow of time. In
terms of process optimisation, flow encompasses
the integration of end-to-end supply chains
and the movement toward relocation of global
supply bases to nearshore/onshore geographies.
Achieving flow is essential for organisations
seeking to improve their supply chain
performance in a time of increasing disruption.
This book highlights the high-level
effectiveness of business strategies that use
predictions based on the sequence of world
events, global supply chains and data by exchanged management professionals, but for any
smart technologies. By broadly applying physical manager concerned with enterprise-level success.
laws to the global supply chain, Rob Handfield and
Tom Linton explore the impact of supply chain About the authors
physics on global market policies such as tariffs, Rob Handfield, PhD, is the Bank of America University
factory location, pandemic response, supply base Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management
geographies and outsourcing. at North Carolina State University and Executive
The authors provide specific recommendations Director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative.
on what to do to improve supply chain flows and Tom Linton is a globally recognised thought
include important insights for managers with leader, author and former Chief Supply Chain Officer
examples from companies such as Biogen, General and Chief Procurement Officer. He is currently a L O GI S T I CS NEWS
Motors, Siemens and Flex with regard to their senior advisor at McKinsey and Company, as well as
response to COVID-19. Flow is an important an executive advisory board member at supply chain
resource not only for procurement and supply chain software leaders Resilinc and Project 44. •

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