Using a hybrid approach for supply chain projects

- There's not a one size fits all solution for managing supply chain projects. The bigger and more complex your project is, the more likely it is that you'll need to use a combination of different project management tools. Let's see how Two Trees, Olive Oil is planning to use a hybrid approach to manage the startup of their new e-commerce fulfillment center. In the past Two Trees only sold their products to wholesalers and retailers. That meant they were mostly storing and shipping their products on pallets, and that's what their distribution center was designed to do. But now they've decided to start selling products directly to consumers through their website and that requires a very different kind of distribution system. Instead of shipping whole pallets now they need to be able to pick individual products and ship them out in small packages. In other words, they need an e-commerce fulfillment center. There will be three major challenges in getting the fulfillment center up and running. First, they need to build the building and set it up with material handling equipment. For this part of the project the team will use a waterfall approach. They'll define the requirements, then build out a plan with a detailed list of tasks and deliverables. Second, they need to modify their information systems. Specifically they need to reconfigure the order management system, the warehouse management system, and the transportation management system so that they can use the fulfillment center. They can't make all of these changes at the same time and they can't really define all of the tasks in advance. So instead they'll use an agile approach. They'll schedule three sprints, and in each sprint they'll complete all of the changes that are needed for one of the systems. And third, since there will be a lot of new processes they need to have a system for identifying and implementing process improvements. So they selected a cross-functional team that will be responsible for reviewing quality issues and that team is going to get training in Lean Six Sigma. As issues come up they'll be prepared to run DMAIC projects to solve them. For complex supply chain projects like starting up a new facility, we often need to use tools from a variety of project management methods. It's a good thing that the team at Two Trees understands the differences between waterfall, agile and Lean Six Sigma because they really need all three for this supply chain project.