The Missing Links. Caroline Mondon
Advance Praise for The Missing Links
“The Missing Links is a business novel by Caroline Mondon. It is similar to The Goal by Dr. Eli Goldratt, probably the best selling business novel ever written. It clearly explains the process necessary for a company to adopt the latest thinking about planning and management as the organization struggles to adapt to the changing needs of customers as they become ever more demanding. Caroline has written a compelling story about a fictional, privately held manufacturing company that is facing serious challenges when the owner of the company suddenly dies, and his daughter is left to take over the business. This book can be read by anyone with an interest in how businesses can be run more efficiently and effectively. This book is already a best-selling business novel in France, and I have no doubt that it will be just as successful in the English version.”
KEITH LAUNCHBURY, CFPIM, CIRM, CSCP, CDDP
Past President of APICS, the premier professional association for supply chain management
“For more than 15 years, I have been involved with education in the field of supply chain management. The Missing Links has been a real inspiration for showing how to explain both fundamental and advanced concepts of business management, supply chain management, and innovation. The storyline of the book makes it easy to understand the importance and leverage of supply chain management concepts, even for smaller companies. It was a pleasure reading about the development and transformation of a small traditional company into a modern, next-century enterprise. The way innovative concepts and methods have been applied in the book is logical and helps readers quickly get over a steep learning curve. I will definitely recommend this book to my supply chain management students.”
ANDREA WALBERT, CPIM, CSCP, PLS, CDDP
Managing Partner, PMI (Production Management Institute) GmbH
“... like the clever plot of this detective novel which has clues weaving their way through the story, this book uncovers the mystery of how to implement best practices, and improve business processes and operations—all the while keeping you guessing as to ‘Who did it?’ Topical, relevant, and practical advice encompassed in a step-by-step methodology wrapped in a captivating storyline, which starts by turning the first page.”
TRACY LYN CHEETHAM, CPIM, CSCP, SCOR-P, CDDP, PLS
ParadoxSolve—APICS Instructor and TFC Facilitator
“The Missing Links is a story of discovery, not unlike Alex Rogo’s journey in Eli Goldratt’s The Goal. Today, many companies, not just in charming rural France, are plagued by similar problems: poor results, a disillusioned workforce, overwhelming complexity, variability, lost focus, and unclear priorities across all levels of operations and management. Héloïse, Caroline Mondon’s heroine, a passionate musician, sets out to save her family’s business and has the courage to face the inconsistencies and gaps between the way the business should work and reality. The solution to these is not just an operational one, and it is not easily found. In addition to effectively managing complexity and variability in her supply chain with a state-of-the-art Demand Driven Operating Model, she looks beyond planning and control to leadership and personal development.
Making complexity manageable through focused infusion of simplicity, driving out variability through buffering, replacing backward-looking accounting with relevant information for decision making, eliminating conflicts through win-win solutions, and helping people make a positive contribution through unambiguous and inviting leadership: these are the links that turn an ailing enterprise around to reach a state of harmony and high operational and financial performance. When we leave our heroes at the last page, let’s take these insights to our own workplaces and add the missing links to make our own supply chains strong, for the benefits of our customers, our people, our societies, and our shareholders.”
CHRISTOPH LENHARTZ
Managing Director, Catena Strategies
Master Instructor, Demand Driven Institute
Member of the Board, Theory of Constraints International Certification Organization
“I wish all textbooks were written like this one! The Missing Links is easy to read and understand, written as a realistic story about the development of a factory, and set up as a detective story. The work is great for remembering supply chain management concepts. As an NLP Master Trainer and International Leadership Trainer, I especially enjoyed Caroline’s use of metaphors to enhance understanding and to use as memory hooks. This shows how you can ‘walk your talk,’ whether you are a president of a company or a student. I learned a thing or two about French culture as well, as an extra bonus. Thanks, Caroline, for sharing your extensive know-how in this pleasant way!”
EVA HYLLSTAM
NLP Master Trainer and International Leadership Trainer,
Business Owner, World Trade Center Gothenburg, Sweden
THE MISSING LINKS
A Demand Driven
Supply Chain
Detective Novel
THE MISSING LINKS
A Demand Driven
Supply Chain
Detective Novel
Caroline Mondon
INDUSTRIAL PRESS INC.
Industrial Press, Inc.
32 Haviland Street, Suite 3
South Norwalk, Connecticut 06854
Tel: 203-956-5593 Toll-Free: 888-528-7852
E-mail: [email protected]
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mondon, Caroline, author.
Title: The missing links: a demand driven supply chain detective novel / Caroline Mondon.
Description: South Norwalk, Connecticut: Industrial Press, Inc., [2016]
Identifiers: LCCN 2016025647 (print) | LCCN 2016026865 (ebook) | ISBN 9780831136079 (softcover) | ISBN 9780831193874 (ePDF) | ISBN 9780831193881 (ePub) | ISBN 9780831193898 (eMobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Inventory control. | Materials management. | Production control.
Classification: LCC TS160 .M595 2016 (print) | LCC TS160 (ebook) | DDC 658.7—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016025647
ISBN print: 978-0-8311-3607-9
ISBN ePUB: 978-0-8311-9388-1
ISBN eMOBI: 978-0-8311-9389-8
ISBN ePDF: 978-0-8311-9387-4
Copyright © 2016 by Industrial Press, Inc.
All rights reserved.
This book, or any parts thereof, with the exception of those figures in the public domain, may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form without the permission of the copyright holders.
Sponsoring Editor: Judy Bass
Translator and Editor: Alicia Peres (www.aliciaperes.ca) Interior Text Designer: Patricia Wallenburg, TypeWriting Cover Designer: Brian Cartwright, Rocket Design
industrialpress.com ebooks.industrialpress.com
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