[Transcript] Leveraged Supply Chains – Episode 10: SIOP: Lisa Anderson

Key Takeaways

Lisa Anderson is President of LMA Consulting Group, a SIOP practitioner and author with 30+ years advising mid-market manufacturers. She wrote the book on SIOP, landed at #16 on SAP's Supply Chain Influencers list, and has seen what happens when good planning processes hit bad supplier data. This episode is about the gap between a solid SIOP process on paper and what actually shows up at the supplier line — and what $50M-$300M manufacturers can do about it.

SIOP creates false confidence when the data feeding it is stale. Promise dates nobody trusts, acknowledgments sitting in someone's inbox, lead time assumptions that haven't been validated in months. The plan looks clean in the S&OP meeting. Procurement reality does not match. That gap is where most mid-market supply chains break.

ERP tells you what you planned. It does not tell you what the supplier actually committed to this morning. ERP is the backbone, but the supplier communication layer on top of it is where the execution breaks down — and most companies are trying to run that layer through email.

The worst version of this: Lisa has audited clients where a meaningful percentage of promise dates and lead times in the system are simply wrong. Not slightly off. Wrong. The planning process is technically running, but it is running on fiction.

Fixing it does not require ripping out ERP. It requires a workflow layer that closes the loop — acknowledgments confirmed, promise dates updated, exceptions surfaced before they become surprises. The manufacturers who get this right treat supplier communication as a data problem, not just a relationship problem.

AI is delivering real value in mid-market procurement right now, specifically in automating supplier communication, surfacing exceptions, and flagging lead time drift before it hits the schedule. The hype around AI is real, but so is the practical use case for manufacturers who do not have a data science team and just need the noise reduced.

What separates the best manufacturers from the rest is not technology. It is discipline around the planning-to-execution handoff. The best operations Lisa has seen are obsessive about closing the loop between what was planned and what suppliers are actually doing. The average ones assume the ERP has it covered.

Full Transcript

Andrew (00:06)
Welcome back to Leverage Supply Chains, the show where operators and builders turn real data into real results on the factory floor and in the supplier network. I'm your host, Andrew Strupp. Here's a question I want every manufacturer listening to ask themselves. When was the last time you checked whether the promise dates in your ERP were actually real? Not what you entered during the last sales and operations planning cycle, but what your supplier actually committed to this week.

Because if you're like most mid-market manufacturers, the answer is somewhere between, I'm not sure and we don't really track that. That's the gap we're going to break open today. The space between having a solid Psyop process, which by the way, stands for sales, inventory and operations planning, and what your suppliers are actually doing on the other end. Most companies run planning meetings with data that's already stale by the time the meeting starts. The acknowledgments are in someone's inbox. The lead times haven't been validated in months. And the promise dates, nobody's confident those are real.

To help us dig into this, I'm joined by Lisa Anderson, president of LMA Consulting Group. Lisa has spent more than 30 years advising mid-market manufacturers and distributors on supply chain strategy and SIOP. She literally wrote the book on it, SIOP, Creating Predictable Revenue and EBITDA. She's been recognized by SAP as a supply chain thought leader. She's ranked in the top 20 on SAP's global supply chain expert list. And she sees inside more manufacturing operations in a month than most of us will in a career.

So this conversation is practical and less so theoretical. We're going to cover where Psyop breaks down at the supplier line, what ERP can and can't do about it, where AI is actually making a difference in mid-market manufacturing versus where it's just noise, and what the best operators do differently. So let's dive in. Lisa, welcome to the show. You've been in this world a long time consulting manufacturers, writing about Psyop, advising on everything from planning process to ERP strategy.

For folks who know the books, but maybe haven't worked with you directly, give us a quick version. What does your practice look like right now and what kinds of problems are landing on your desk?

Lisa Anderson (02:02)
Also, glad to be here. In essence, we work with manufacturers and distributors and help them improve their service to their customers, support sales growth, and improve their bottom line with programs, like I said, with SciOp and Supply Chain.

Andrew (02:18)
Love that. Well, I mean, you've been advising manufacturers for 30 plus years and you literally wrote the book on Psyop. Give us the quick version. What does your practice look like today and who are you typically working with?

Lisa Anderson (02:28)
Well, so.

I would say we're working with mid-market manufacturers and distributors and we're working on, know, in essence, like you said, it's quite the challenge in supply chain. There's always something changing, know, something's not showing up on time. So it's how do you address these commonly held challenges and how do you make sure you can grow to successfully meet your financial objectives?

Andrew (02:57)
Well, you know, it's obviously that's a wide range and there's a lot of different pieces that can come into play as you know, you take on one consulting opportunity versus the other. I guess, you know, when a new client comes in and says, we need to fix our supply chain, how often does the root cause trace back to planning versus execution versus the space in between? Would love to hear your thoughts on

Lisa Anderson (03:18)
Well, it's actually interesting. Many times they're calling us for planning because, you know, the basis of SIAF is aligning the various aspects of your plan. With that said though, most of the time the issue is really that they don't have a plan that they can rely upon and they're not able to execute to the plan.

So it really is a combination of both. Their plan is suspect and many times the execution is what fails.

Andrew (03:47)
Totally. You know, that in between is also very transition of practicality versus, you know, what you might read in a book. In that is, do you find that PsiUp is still the right framework for mid-market companies, you know, in the $50 million to $300 million range? Or do you think it's gotten too enterprise heavy as of late?

Lisa Anderson (04:05)
I

We see SIOP works across the board with small and medium sized companies as well as large companies. SIOP aligns demand, supply, and financial objectives in one coordinated plan. it really does not matter on the size. It's more about how you go about implementing SIOP and rolling it out. it fits really nicely with a mid-market type company.

name because you need to have a plan and then a plan that's executable. mean that's like we were talking about earlier. It's all about the execution, but you have to have something that you can actually execute against.

Andrew (04:45)
Yeah, well, totally. And I would love to pull that thread a little bit. I mean, what do you typically find is the gap between, you know, the statement of like, we do Psyop versus actually running a good Psyop process. Is there any typical observations you've seen around that Delta between when you talk to customers or clients?

Lisa Anderson (05:02)
Yeah, I mean, if folks have, they may be implementing a SIA process, what they, you know, they may most of the time that, you know, if, they have a process in place already, what they're typically doing is looking at, you know, what do I develop for my sales forecast? They're drowning in data many times. And they might be tracking all sorts of things. However, what's, what's not true about it is it's not meaningful. They're not using it. It's not practical. So they're not.

you know, able to execute against it. So it's really like, are these plans you're developing? Well, I was going to use the word fluffy, but you know, are they, you know, just plans theoretical, or is this based in reality?

Andrew (05:42)
Totally. And I think that's a really good way to frame it of like, was this just a thought exercise of the art of possible or does it actually apply tactically to their business, specifically to their business? And I think that's even more so now with like thinking around how technology is changing, it'll be hyper-specific. And so in that, for leaders who have heard Psyop or SNOP thrown around but never really built a real process, what does Psyop actually do when it, like, what does it look like when it works?

Lisa Anderson (05:56)
you

Andrew (06:09)
What are like the moving pieces? Like how, do you think about measurement of like, this is the right working mechanics of a good site.

Lisa Anderson (06:16)
Well, mean, since I up is, you know, the goal is to balance demand with supply or sales with operations, if you will, you know, what you, what you really want to do is get a directionally correct forecast. You want to start with something that, you know, what are you planning to sell? What are you going to be selling? You don't need to go into appreciating detail. We just need to get, we need to start with something that's directional. And then we look at what does this mean?

in terms of capacity like machines, equipment, materials, command like potential supplier contracts. And then, and also, you know, what will this mean in terms of inventory levels and, you know, service to customers. So in essence, it's ⁓ demand and then how do you best fulfill that demand is in essence what it's all about.

Andrew (07:06)
Totally. Well, and then as we talk about that layer and the process and I guess the framework, how do you think about cadence for that 100 to $200 million manufacturer? Who's typically in the room? What data are they looking at? How often are they meeting? I'm sure that the listeners would love, okay, I understand now the framing of it, but who do I should be pulling in the

Lisa Anderson (07:27)
Right. Well, a SIAP process is a, has a, well, it has a weekly cadence and a monthly cadence, but overall the process occurs on a monthly basis and it's recurring because, you know, it's never static. You, you agree upon a plan.

going forward typically for like a year on a monthly basis. So you it changes who's in the room. It should be the key leaders within your organization. So you're going to have clearly you have to have demand and supply representative. So you're going to have and finance. you you have sales. It depends maybe customer service. You're going to have you know, it depends on the company could be product.

product related departments. And then on the supply side, you're going to have planning, which typically relates to manufacturing planning, and maybe distribution planning. And then you're then you also have purchasing, of course. And, you know, it depends again, if you have somebody in charge of inventory, it's going to be the key leaders within your organization that you want there. And you want finance represented, because it's all about, it's going to end up in giving

you a margins cash flow and you know it's going to be your revenue plan really. So in essence those are the key leaders within your organization is who you want to be in the room and they have a weekly cycle. So you look at demand, supply and then how do you align the two together into an executable plan.

Andrew (08:53)
Super interesting because like, you know, from that structure and obviously a lot of stakeholders involved in those pieces of the puzzle to produce the, I guess, meaningful output. From what you've seen, like, where do the companies typically still out? Like, is this like a cross-functional alignment issue? Is it like a data issue? Is it like a discipline? Curious if there's like any design patterns around.

Lisa Anderson (09:12)
Well, they do get hung up on the data, to your point. A lot of times, well, I've seen both happen, and that is that they're either waiting for perfection, which is never going to come. So they try to make every single item or supplier have the right.

you know, the lead time is perfect, you know, every single piece of data is perfect in the system. Well, you're gonna wait forever, because you're never gonna get to that point, because everything is changing frequently. On the other hand, if your data is lousy, that is not going to help. So, directionally correct is...

the way I look at this or 80-20. You need to have something that you can rely upon to make decisions, but if you never make any decisions because you never start, you're not going to be successful. ⁓

Andrew (09:58)
Absolutely. Yeah, it's very fastening around like

that choice of inaction because of lack of confidence or conviction and then it's a very simple problem. First off, you know, the fact that you've written a book about this and you've become an expert, a domain expert in this and like, which I think is fantastic and I love talking to individuals like yourself because you've, think putting pen to paper is such a specific process that requires you to really think about a problem succinctly.

What do you think is one of the things companies get wrong about Psyop and the process, even before they even start?

Lisa Anderson (10:31)
⁓ Well, before they start they they really don't understand what sign up is it's not it's not like a a one-time project is really has to become part of your business planning process. So like I said, know, you you have these weekly cycles monthly cycles and it's not it's not just a meeting ago to if it's not

involved in like making decisions, providing the information that's needed ⁓ and highlighting issues, then it's not really, you know, accomplishing the objective. So it's, you know, that's really what we see.

Andrew (11:09)
Got it. Well, I guess transitioning a little bit, we'll love to talk about where things may break in the sciop process and the of tactile, because, you know, I think we're talking a lot about really good frameworks, the configuration, the mental hurdles that people have to get over and even the habits or the practices. But obviously there's some things in the tactical and the weeds that I think even sometimes leaders sometimes forget. And so when it comes to things, and here's what I keep hearing often with operators is that

No plan looks great in the SNOP meeting, but then the procurement reality doesn't match, right? It's like a supplier misses a promise date, it sends a partial shipment, doesn't acknowledge the PO at all. Like where have you seen the gaps show up with your clients?

Lisa Anderson (11:48)
Well, you know, at the overall process, there's a lot of gaps, you know, in terms of the demand plan not being realistic. But when it comes to suppliers and ⁓ materials, you know, in essence, the issue is, is many times, you know, that the supplier we

put together a plan, but the supplier doesn't execute against the plan. And they may not even have advanced notice in the plan. The company is out there planning, but not involving their suppliers in this planning process. So it sounds like a relatively simple thing to solve, but it's often overlooked.

Andrew (12:25)
It's super interesting because what I'm hearing in that process is that both having a process of expectations and deliverables is very impactful because I think it sounds like it helps with stopping the variations there, but even almost like sharing the strategic plan with the suppliers and collaboration up front. I'm curious, we've seen there what has worked and how you keep that on rails, but I think it's a very interesting thing that I think obviously sometimes feels like a luxury, but as you know, if you do the homework up

front, there's dividends downstream, right?

Lisa Anderson (12:55)
Yes, for sure. you really ⁓ what we see is that folks that are most successful share supplier like forecast with their suppliers. So what are they expecting to you know, the demand plan translates into supply plans. So one of the supply plans is what are you what do you need from your top suppliers? I mean, I wouldn't worry about all of them because that's just too much detail. And again, you can go to

So, you know, like who are your top suppliers? Who are the suppliers that are most critical? Where your

If you run out, you're going to have issues throughout your supply chain. So look for those and then make sure that you're coordinating with them, providing them with a forecast for what you're going to sell. you should make an agreement on how they're going to supply that to you. It doesn't have to be any one way. But what's going to be reliable and also secured. And of course, you want to make sure that you

to make it into a win-win.

Andrew (13:54)
No, absolutely. I think that's often the missing piece that people forget that... Well, and I actually, I take that back because the manufacturing distributors that we've worked with in the past is very fascinating because I think this is this tipping point, which I think you're describing as well, of them realizing that process of the five whys, the root cause analysis that unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it,

some of the things that are mission critical to making decisions in your business actually live outside the walls of how you operate, which is the supplier base. And that's a very, you know, I think if you rewind 50 years ago, that wasn't true, right? You're thinking about lack of globalization and the spur of that. And you're thinking about distribution. Now you're thinking about called the tariff impacts, which we'll get to a little bit later, but it's a very fascinating question, which actually leads to the next major topic I had on my list was, you know, the ERP. You're on record. And I know we've talked about this about like how ERP is a

of supply chain performance. And I think that's fundamentally true. think that the ERP serves as the mission critical operating system, the system of record. That's how we think about it at the team of leverage. And so I'm very much with you on that. But when it comes to suppliers and actually, you know, how they're doing things and operating with a business like promise dates, acknowledgements, shipment information, pricing confirmations, how do you feel about like where ERP falls short and like where there's a gap that you've observed across working with these different companies?

Lisa Anderson (15:12)
Well, one of the largest gaps is the reliability of those promise dates in ERP. It's not necessarily, I mean, it's not ERP, but it's the information that's being put into ERP and or the timeliness of its updates because ERP really holds the data. So that's really one of the, when it comes to the suppliers, it's one of the key areas that's an issue.

Andrew (15:35)
Totally. Well, and you know, that leaves something is like framing and I would love your take on this too, because, you know, for mid markets that we've worked with, it's interesting because they do consider the ERP as a source of truth. But oftentimes I think there's open ended question of is that realistic in procurement supplier management when technically the suppliers don't really live or operate within the ERP. And so this is tied to that concept of like, we just need to use the ERP better. But I think there's maybe something deeper layered.

I know we've talked about this a little bit as well around how do you think about communication? How do you share plans? How do you create a structure that maybe flows some data back to the ERP but actually has to be a process outside and tooling in the practice. We'd love to hear what you've seen work well, what you've seen the frictions and dive into that a little bit as well.

Lisa Anderson (16:19)
Yeah, well, I would say that, uh, you know, well, you have to start by simply communicating with, with your suppliers frequently. I mean, they should be in the loop of what is expected. if, you know, supplier capacity is one of the key issues that we see coming up. It's meaning like you're, you're planning for them to be able to produce, I don't know, or, know, to ship to you 20,000 or something a month, whatever it is and their capacity and their, in their machine shop.

is only 15,000 for two or three months, you're obviously going to run behind. So that's something that you should know about upfront so that you can figure out what to do about that together. So I think part of it is communicating the plan. And then I think the other question you had is...

You know, like there's supplier portals in the ERP system, so you can utilize tools like that. But the real success formula is to be sharing information with your suppliers and say, you know.

You know, they gave you an original promise date, let's say. But has it changed? Because things go wrong all the time. mean, we lately we've been, you know, having these closures and the straight up for her moves. There's you never know. There's always something happening. So has the dates been updated? How recently have the dates been updated? So you need to make sure that you're keeping on track of that.

Andrew (17:41)
Yeah, absolutely. There's, at least from our Foxhole, how we've seen this often is it's very fascinating how both the volume of communication required, but also how you support that and how you create a framework around that that creates consistency. Back to the question we just talked about, the data is all intertwined. And it's very interesting because it is a thing that they know they need to be doing, but it's also how do they get enabled to do so and also how do they create frameworks that create, you know, and

I think is very fascinating. know Lisa, we talked about this, that ultimately all this underlying process has to bubble up and this is where the data comes in. And even AI, which we're about to talk about is that leads to broader, more important and fundamentally impactful questions for the business. But, you know, it's kind of that junk in, junk out model and it's a very fascinating transition point that we're in, especially with the AI world. And I think that's an interesting, obviously transition here of you've been writing a lot about AI and manufacturing recently.

Lisa Anderson (18:23)
Yes.

Andrew (18:33)
And so for mid-market manufacturers that really, and honestly, we probably know this, don't have a true data science team and often are very resource constrained, where have you seen AI actually deliver value? I mean, I'm curious about, you know, not what the vendors are selling or pitching of saying like it does X and Y, but the reality of how it operates and where have you seen AI when you've been working with clients, like the biggest difference in supplier management and procurement specifically?

Lisa Anderson (18:58)
Well, first of all, one of the things that I could add into this is ERP has MRP as a part of it. And MRP is going to...

be the 80-20 of actually delivering results for mid-market manufacturers many times. It's because it gives you a good idea of what's coming, what do you need, etc. So that's one thing I would throw out there. And really, from that point of view, AI can be incorporated in systems like MRP in many of the modern ERP systems today. You may not even realize it, but they incorporate AI features so that it can

know,

do a better job of looking at what is the changes in demand? What are, you know, what are changes going on at the supplier side of things? So it's looking for these types of trends. So AI is incorporated in several modern ERP systems. So from that point of view, I would say anyone can can ⁓ utilize those types of features. The other thing that I see coming up more and more is is that there are

softwares and or some of the ERP systems will do this and they'll like automatically send some emails and or help you automate processes where you follow up on your due dates and you know maybe it'll look at your lead times as well and say hey this lead time is out of tolerance so maybe you should take a look. So that why not it's a great way to leverage

system and AI capabilities to give you better insights.

Andrew (20:31)
Yeah, love that. I think that's a really good pointed anecdote that ultimately is really around how you apply it, right? That applied concept of AI and ultimately how it ties back to business operations. And also how does it get embedded into the existing workflows? Because it's not, I don't think we're expecting AI to fundamentally change the way in which MRP operates. I think that's been a very codified process. Same things with some of the ERP workflows just generally, but it is very fascinating around how it could accelerate and or make things more accessible.

I think inversely, I'm kind of curious from what you've seen lately, what do you think is like the biggest AI pitch that you've heard that really makes you skeptical? Do the head tilt.

Lisa Anderson (21:07)
Well, I think that, you know, there's...

Pretty much AI is being attributed to everything these days. So it's like, my system has AI features that, you it'll just do it all for you. Well, you have to remember that, you know, that it's based upon your information, your data, and it can make up all sorts of crazy scenarios. So you shouldn't be following that. You should make sure that you're designing it to make sense in your case. You know, for example, that 20,000 a month example of AI is telling you like, well, 40,000

is what's needed, you should be suspicious. It may not be the AI that's, know, AI's giving you this answer based upon whatever it's fed in.

Andrew (21:47)
Totally. Well, I think that's a good anecdote too. It's that, you know, there's still, think we are in the tradition of like trust, but verify. And honestly, I think that's ultimately how humans have always operated is that the human, the loop is a very impactful, especially when it comes to supply chain, especially when comes to physical movement of goods and how do you build the trust, obviously with your partners and your customers. And so I think that's the thing that often is overlooked and we're starting to see kind of a step back of what does that mean and how does it get applied to the frameworks that we know how it works best for years, decades, centuries.

know, transitioning more, think also to that point around design patterns and good practices of what you've seen. You you've been operating with, you know, hundreds of engagements over 30 plus years. What separates the manufacturers who actually get supply chain right from the ones who kind of stay stuck? You know, I'm, you know, there's this framework of like, do you think it's a people thing? Is it a process of technology, something else? Curious, you know, as you've reflected on those things and continue to iterate on your practice, any insights into this specific topic?

Lisa Anderson (22:42)
Well,

I do definitely think that, you you have to have, it's more important to have the right people and to provide the right skills, you know, you know, provide education and training. That's the most important thing. However, what I really see is the most often what's needed is not the people, it's not the process and it's not the system. It's the combination of them. So that's what I find is most often the need is how do I,

how do I do this? How do I make what I know the supplier needs and what I know customers need, which the person's thinking. How do I do this with a process that's improved? And how do I make sure that the system isn't telling me, know, follow this best practice that's going to give us the poor results that it will?

definitely achieve if we just follow it blindly. So how do we put these together in a way that makes sense? That's really what most of our clients need when they come to us. They say all three. They say the system is the problem, the process is the problem, or this person's a problem. They say all of the above. And most of the time, it's not whatever they say. It's the combination of trying to put the three together.

Andrew (23:56)
Agreed.

plus one on that, I think that they all are connected. And even as we think about what does AI look like in agents in the future state, I think ultimately it still boils down to those three underlying angles or foundational points, which I think is very impactful. As you've engaged with those companies and the clients and people you've worked with over time, I'm always curious to, as I've my personal career, step back and work with different customers and the capacity

Any common traits in the leadership at those companies that you've seen have successfully worked well? Patterns you think, like this is definitely how, you you step into a new engagement. Like, I know how this is going to work and it's engaged and like, these are the things that I think are positive qualities that you definitely expect or have seen with these manufactured or distributors.

Lisa Anderson (24:41)
Yeah, well, I think definitely the leaders stand out in the better companies. you know, one of the

Generally speaking, they're going to be having some sort of vision, meaning that they could see beyond the immediate problem. So they have an ability to understand what's coming next, but that's certainly not enough. The best of them are practical. So they're thinking about what's reasonable results? How do I get folks executing? They're definitely thinking about successful execution.

I mean, it sounds so much easier than it is. And they also do it in a way that engages the people and helps the teams want to succeed. They see how they add value. So a lot of these things are somewhat like common sense leadership qualities, but very rare that we find.

Andrew (25:33)
Makes sense. you know, obviously that creates a space for how do you leave behind good practices and allow self introspection on how to improve. And so I think that's always a hard part of being consultant to it, right? You're thinking about how do you structure frameworks, but also leave behind because you're not there in a permanent fixture. And I think that's a balance. Well, you know, the last major topic I want to talk about, which has been obviously more top of mind beyond even just the AI narrative is the question on reshoring and nearshoring.

because they've been a big theme, especially tied to obviously the current tariff environment. You know, and for a mid-market manufacturer, distributor evaluating whether to diversify suppliers or regionalize, I'm very curious what your practical advice is because I'm, you know, I'm curious how, how should manufacturers be thinking about supply chain resilience right now, because there's a lot of talk, a lot of supposed action, but also a lot of cost and ⁓ impacts downstream by making those decisions.

Lisa Anderson (26:11)
Yeah.

Yeah, that's very true.

Well, and I did a podcast with a valuation expert. So there's a lot that, that can go wrong in today's supply chain. And there's a lot of risk that's been built in with our current global environment and all of the set tariffs, et cetera. So ⁓ really what, what we're finding is, that it's not as simple as just saying, you know, reshore everything and bring it back today. Cause that, doesn't work. You're going to lose your supply.

you're gonna run out of everything, it's just not gonna be a good thing. So like I said with the leader, you have to be thinking a little bit ahead here, you keep your, I mean at a high level. You wanna keep your supply chain intact, especially with your core suppliers that are bringing you your critical items, et cetera, but you need to be developing some new capabilities regionally.

It's very difficult for a mid-market company to vertically integrate. what you really, what's needed today, because a lot of times you have to ramp up very quickly and you want to be able to change with, you know, changing conditions as well. So you need to have stronger relationships with your suppliers, see them more as a partner.

not as a vendor as an example, but you want to see them more as a strategic partner really so that you align your goals so that you succeed together or you fail together because otherwise, unfortunately, it's just you're not really aligned. But nevertheless, I see a trend towards stronger relationships. And then what you do is you start to build capacity and capabilities with local and regional

supply. And you have to think about it, what materials and components do need, what's critical. You can't build some of it local and then have some of it, you're only as strong as your weakest link in your supply chain. So you have to think about the entire picture. But start to build some capabilities locally while keeping your capabilities on wherever they are today. And then you have to perform a smart

Transition that's where Psyop really is quite critical because the only way you'll succeed is if you're looking at Your sales your inventory your operations and your plans and how they come all come together on a monthly basis So you can keep yourself supplied It's you know, we were talking about dates and lead times earlier. Those are important But you know in this environment, it's like those are the basics so you need to really you know step up your game To be successful, but that's really the only way

The only way you will be successful is if you start to take this leap and ⁓ bring your... It's not all about bringing it all back or something like that, but you have to be smart about what you're doing and better control. So you're to need to have your supply chain, at least part of it, a bit closer to your customers.

Andrew (29:22)
It's super interesting. I love the perspective and advice. think Sage advice is very impactful and I echo very deeply. know, the two things I heard there too that I think is very fascinating also is that I think that really good to the prior question around what I have observed, at least working with our customers and the space of the mid-market is that really good leaders are really good at creating the foundational building blocks of fundamentals and there. so like as we just talked about Psyop,

in that category, you want to do all these other things, like even to consider like near-shore and on-shore. But you can't really do that unless you have some fundamentals already in place. Right. And so it's a very fascinating structure of how you think about, and this is the first principles of like, how do you solve the first problems, build the foundation for the second and third order of problems. The other thing that you mentioned too, I thought was very fascinating is the usage of suppliers versus vendors. For us, we've always talked about suppliers. I think for indirect, you'll typically think about the Morris vendors, but I think those are very fascinating.

experience that I went through when I first entered the industry was that there is inherently a different assumption and or persona that comes with those two terms. And so I think it's also a very important question on the topic of tariffs, nearshoring and onshoring is how do you categorize how you think about them? How are those relationships formed and how do you manage them? Which is great. All right. Well, so first off, wrapping up, I always love to do a lightning round set of questions. So I have a few for you. ⁓

to catch you up guard and so we'll go through that a little quickly. These are quick so you know once again just off the top of head, off the cuff, whatever comes top of mind. Let's go through them. One metric every manufacturer or distributor should have on their weekly dashboard.

Lisa Anderson (30:48)
Yeah.

It's an untimed delivery.

Andrew (31:03)
100%. ⁓ One

thing supply chain leaders typically always over complicate.

Lisa Anderson (31:09)
plans.

Andrew (31:10)
Love that.

One supplier behavior everyone tolerates but shouldn't.

Lisa Anderson (31:15)
late deliveries.

Andrew (31:16)
I love it and tied back to the on-time delivery question. right. And then best piece of advice for a supply chain leader in their first 90 days of a new role and location.

Lisa Anderson (31:26)
say to ⁓ get to know their internal and external customers and know obviously suppliers. So get to know the people and you know the key positions.

Andrew (31:38)
Love it. And then final question, which is one of my favorite ones. One piece of advice you give your younger self about supply chain today.

Lisa Anderson (31:46)
well, to align your demand with your supply and to really not overcomplicate it.

Andrew (31:58)
I think that's always the hardest thing, especially as a younger self, you typically want to find, you know, the most complicated solution. Sometimes there's simple ones, right? And there's its principles. And I think that's a very fascinating, I go, well love that Lisa, this has been a great conversation. Thanks for walking us through what CyOP actually looks like when it's working, where it falls apart at the supplier execution layer and what mid-market manufacturers and distributors can do in the next 90 days to start closing that gap.

If this episode made you look at your own SNOP process and wonder whether the data feeding it is actually current or if it gave you a clear picture of what a good supply visibility looks like, share it with your ops and procurement teams. This is the kind of conversation that changes how people think about the gap between the plan and the reality. You can find Lisa at lma-consultantgroup.com. Check out her books, including Psyop, Creating Predictable Revenue and EBITDA.

and follow her on LinkedIn, where she's consistently publishing sharp takes on manufacturing, supply chain, and what's actually working in the field. And obviously, follow Leverage Supply Chains wherever you listen, and leave a quick rating or review. It helps other operators and builders find the show. I'm Andrew Strupe. I'm your host. Thank you very much for joining, and I'll see you next time.