A few months ago, I had the opportunity to see ‘The World of Hans Zimmer’ in Antwerp. It was an overwhelming experience that really made my day, but the deeper reason for my joy only occurred to me later when I reflected on what I had witnessed. I came to understand that I had been particularly moved when observing the individual musicians rather than enjoying the overall result.

How do they stay connected?

It must have come from my yearlong fascination with teamwork. I see a symphonic orchestra as an intriguing team of individuals, each with their own ambitions, skills, sensitivities and emotions. Individuals face a lot of challenges in our world of hyper-globalization. They tend to aim for the unique, sometimes by breaking the rules or looking for that one game-changing skill or trick that would make them stand out from the crowd. But how do they stay connected? How do they make sense?

A sustained collective effort

That’s where harmony comes in. A symphonic orchestra is not a bunch of robots, all musicians bring their own personal qualities and expertise, each individual is a source of unique value. But that’s not enough to make the miracle happen. It’s thanks to their dedication and discipline that everyone and everything in the orchestra can interact smoothly to make things really move and elate the audience. There’s a lot of wrestling with details involved, hours and days of practice and interaction with other musicians. This sustained collective effort leads to an almost unbelievable level of cohesion. That’s what we call art.

Wrestling with issues and challenges

Which made me think about my own work and about the supply chain planning solutions that we at OMP develop for customers. In a large supply chain, many individuals are constantly wrestling with numerous planning issues and challenges. They need to deal with push and pull effects, planned and unexpected events, stockouts and so much more. How do they stay connected with each other?

Achieving a state of unison

Harmony seems to be the answer. Or ‘unison’, the musical term we now use to describe our approach to supply chain planning. Unison Planning™ is much like directing a symphonic orchestra, in the sense that it is about connecting individuals, setting up a continuous conversation and nurturing the interaction to make something that means much more than just the sum of its parts.

It may not be art, but it can be just as gratifying as a Hans Zimmer concert experience. This magnificent expert in orchestration inspires me to further reflect on what we are doing at OMP. What level of harmony could we achieve? How deep will be the cohesion in the supply chain? Will we really achieve a state of unison?

Looking to orchestrate your supply chain? Find out what OMP’s Unison Planning™ can do for you.