Supply Chain Cost Management: The AIM & DRIVE Process for Achieving Extraordinary Results

Author Jimmy Anklesaria's "AIM & DRIVE" process is a method for reducing costs by working with your entire supply chain. You will learn how to assemble a cost-cutting initiative, how to bring your suppliers into the process and how to work with them to benefit mutually from cost reductions. Anklesaria's writing is a bit colloquial, but that means it reads easily, which offsets some of the necessary dryness of the process descriptions. The book has helpful worksheets plus samples of actual work from the author's clients. Anklesaria has written this manual for people who work regularly with suppliers, so it is not directed toward the general business reader. However, it is no more complex than necessary. getAbstract recommends it to practitioners at all levels who wish to manage costs cooperatively.

Jimm Anklesaria has a method for managing cost in your supply chain. He has used this eight step program as a consultant and wants to share it with you. The purpose of this method is to work with your suppliers (or customers) to go after the big cost reducing opportunities. Simply trying to negotiate a lower price without fixing the reasons for the higher prices is of very limited usefulness. You can bully your suppliers for a few percentage points, but after that you are pushing them into financial difficulty. They will either have to drop you as a customer or go out of business. The process Aklesaria teaches in this book is AIM & DRIVE. The acronym stands for: * Agree on the need to manage costs * Identifying critical costs in the supply chain * Measuring secondary and tertiary costs & * Defining the key cost drivers and developing strategic options * Reducing, eliminating, or changing activities that cause costs * Implementing an action plan * Verifying the plan with cost monitors * Eternally improving and leveraging the process Remember, this is not a book for fixing costs in your entire company. This is focused on your supply chain and for this it seems like a good approach. The author includes sample reports and worksheets to provide examples of what you should be doing. I also liked his formula approach to understanding costs rather than the usual peanut butter smearing of costs just because you have to. And the author is clear that cost reduction is a process you must continue forever because your competitors will copy any successes you have. Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

At long last a book on Supply Chain Cost Management that makes sense and a process that can be implemented by anyone. I enjoyed the author's free flowing style, the examples and clear logic. This process is not just for the big companies out there but for small and medium companies as well. Very clear and concise. Excellent book!

When Jimmy Anklesaria lays out his proven approach to cost management, companies who have shown that it works - IBM, Motorola, Nortstrom, and HP, among others, all agree - this simple method works, and pays off big! Why work on the slimmest of lean opportunity areas - the fractions - when you can hit the big bucks and make a real difference in profitability! You know you're competing with global producers, and you need every advantage you can get, and fast!