People, Process, Technology - It's a race for People!

As presented in earlier blog entries, technology, process and people are all critical components of any strategic initiative in today's competitive supply chain world.  This was made painfully apparent to many of us today with the story that broke about Apple and the hiring spree they are on in Asia.  Apple is looking to dramatically improve their new product release by hiring hundreds of engineers and supply chain managers based on a story in the Wall Street Journal.  As also reported by WIRED, the move underscores how important the global supply chain is to Apple and how critical it is to improve coordination and flow from design to manufacturing to distribution.  According to the stories, it's all about adding efficiency for Apple.  With over 600 engineers and supply chain people now in China, and even more in Taiwan, the story points out that many of those people in Taiwan are "poached" from smartphone competitor HTC.

So while many of us look at 'cool' technology that companies like Apple provide, and we dream about how we can apply this technology to improve our processes, in fact, it is now a 'cool' technology provider (Apple) that is looking at PEOPLE to improve their processes.

Competition for qualified, skilled engineers and supply chain practitioners is reaching a fever pitch and with moves like this, it appears the battle has only just begun.  How will you compete with Apple in order to recruit and retain skilled resources when it comes to improving your supply chain efficiency?  Apple clearly is addressing one of the weaker links in the people, process and technology triad - how about you?  Is your talent pool being poached?