SA must discard the 'eish' approach to supply chains

Supply chain optimisation is key to unlocking Africa’s growth, in the view of Dr Dinesh Kumar, associate director of management consultancy – supply chain with KPMG. “One of the things we see in Africa is what I call the ‘eish’ approach to problemsolving where there is a knee-jerk reaction to things that go wrong. Ultimately we re-invent the wheel every time we encounter a problem as opposed to instituting a learning programme where you are taking the lessons learnt and incorporating them into the supply chain to ensure it is more efficient and sustainable in the future,” he said at the recent Breakbulk Africa conference in Cape Town. In a changing world, a new approach is critical, he said. “In Mumbai in India a major beverage company has 25 000 drop points to service the 15 million people that live there, and those points have to be serviced daily. That requires a highly functional supply chain to get it right. Urbanisation means bigger and bigger cities will become more of a reality,” he said. “How we do business is going to change dramatically over the next few years as cities in Africa grow – and along with that the consumer base. Our supply chains will have to improve if we are to service this continent effectively.” CAPTION Dr Dinesh Kumar ... ‘Our supply chains will have to improve.’