Boutiques provide better supply chain consulting
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 9/18/2007 5:53:00 PM
Supply chain consulting comes in many flavors and sizes, but small boutiques offer some things larger organizations don’t. So says a report series from Steve Banker, services director for supply chain management (SCM) with Dedham, Mass.-based ARC Advisory Group.
“Boutiques service niches that the big boys don’t—or they cover them much better,” Banker says. He defines a boutique as a consulting practice that focuses exclusively on SCM, and has fewer than 250 consultants.
“If you need to rework your network, determine how a facility should be laid out, or want help in getting permits—the big providers might have a few consultants who could help you. But with boutiques, each of these issues might be all they do,” Banker adds.
Surprisingly, Banker found only a small number of boutiques that specialize in supply chain planning implementations, and none that do supply relationship management implementations.
For copies of Banker’s reports on SCM boutiques, go to www.arcweb.org.
