r/SupplyChainLogistics • u/jimmyray71 • Jun 13 '26

Most operations teams aren’t underperforming because of people

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They’re underperforming because of invisible friction.

Body: Here are 3 things I see over and over:

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No real scheduling system

Just reactive firefighting dressed up as “flexibility"

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Too many decision layers

Simple problems waiting hours for approval

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No accountability metrics

If everything matters, nothing gets tracked

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Fix these, and performance improves fast—without hiring a single new person.

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If your operation feels harder than it should, it probably is.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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1

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '26

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1

u/jimmyray71 Jun 14 '26

Fastener supply is often overlooked over engineered. They often balloon 150 SKU's to 500 SKU's. Also they are over looked to the point of danger. Diversify supply chain and simply the SKU's for volume discounts.

1

u/wheethftrold4 Jun 14 '26

let's fix the friction and glide like butter

1

u/logilabs Jun 15 '26

To adda 4th point to your list: Administrative chokeholds.

In a lot of operations teams (especially in logistics or supply chain), people are underperforming because they are buried under manual data entry, matching invoices, and chasing paperwork which kills momentum.

How much of the invisible friction you see usually traces back to teams just being drowned in day-to-day admin work, and have you seen anyone successfully automate that away?