Industry Week recently ran a good article called “Just In Time – A Manufacturer’s Litmus Test for Politicians” that had some very good questions that I doubt any of the current US presidential candidates would have good answers to.

However, they, or their equivalents, are questions that any CEO, and, more importantly, any CSCO should be able to answer. Specifically:

• Vision
  What is your vision and mission for the supply chain department … and how does it sync up with the vision and mission of the company?
• Relevant Experience
  Have you ever worked on a design team that made products similar to those being made by your company? If not, how do you plan to acquire the expertise needed to help the design team make the right decisions in the design stage before up to 80% of the product cost is locked in?
• Customer Focus
  How have you improved the customer experience in the past? What can you do for your current customers?
• Management Experience
  How do you plan to improve ROIC and contribute to overall company growth?
• Competitiveness
  How are you going to increase overall competitiveness of the company supply chain compared to the industry average?
• Environmental Stewardship
  How are you going to reduce the organization’s carbon footprint while reducing cost and increasing efficiency?
• Trade Practices
  How are you going to achieve best-cost country sourcing while optimally determining what work to keep in house vs. what work to outsource?
• Training & Education
  An educated employee is a productive employee. What is you plan to insure your team stays up to date on best practices, processes, and methodologies?
• Research & Development
  Innovation should not be confined to R&D. What is your plan to insure that supply management contributes its fair share of innovation to corporate growth?