First, What About Walter Payton?

The late Walter Payton, known to fans, friends, and teammates as "Sweetness," was arguably the greatest running back to ever play the game. In some quarters, there's no "arguably" about it.
A 1975 first round draft pick out of Jackson State, he played his entire 13-year career with the Chicago Bears. Retir-ing at the end of the '87 season, Walter was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame immediately upon his eligibility in 1993. His No. 34 jersey has been retired by the Bears.
Payton died in 1999 of a rare liver cancer at the age of 45, leaving a legacy unsurpassed in its totality. At the time of his retirement, Walter held 8 NFL records:

Career Rushing Yards
Career Rushing Attempts
Single Game Rushing Yards
Seasons With 1,000 Or More Rushing Yards
Consecutive Seasons Leading League In Attempts
Most Career Games, 100 Or More Yards
Career Combined Net Yards (Rushing, Receiving, Return)
Career Combined Attempts

Additionally, he was second in Most Seasons Leading League, Rushing Attempts; third in Consecutive Games, 100 Or More Rushing Yards; third in Most Career Rushing Touchdowns, third in Most Games, 200 or More Yards, Season; and fifth in Most Total Career Touchdowns. Walter held 28 Bear records, and was a 9-time Pro Bowl Selection. He also had 4 seasons with 2,000 or more net yards.


As the pictures above illustrate, he had the right stuff at the end (left, December 1987, AP, John Swart), as well as at the beginning (right, August 1977, Reuters, Ron Kuntz).

Along the way, he surpassed the feats of every NFL running back who preceded him. And won the hearts of fans across the nation.

All this on a team that was, frankly, not very good until the last days of his career. Those of us who wept at the unfairness of a world that couldn't find a way for Ernie Banks to get a World Series ring were truly thrilled that Payton's '86 Bear team was able to bring home the Super Bowl win that Walter richly deserved.

What Does This Have To Do With Supply Chain Management, and How Big A Stretch Is It?

We don't think it's a stretch at all. If we did, we wouldn't try to pull it off in the city that adopted Walter as its own (and vice versa).
Look, Supply Chain Management today is all about a few key concepts:

Supply Chain Speed
Supply Chain Agility
Supply Chain Flexibility
Supply Chain Effectiveness
Supply Chain Logistics

Supply Chain Speed

Walter always had plenty of speed - speed to the hole, speed to break away, speed without the ball.

The supply chain mantra today is speed, speed, and more speed. Speed to market, speed to fulfillment, speed to implement, speed to react, speed to proact, speed to change. Customers demand speed (even when they don't need it). Competitors promise (and deliver) speed, raising both the performance bar and customer expectations. Without speed, it's difficult to promote yourself as a serious supply chain player.

Supply Chain Agility

Payton was a gifted communicator and collaborator on the field - with his linemen, with his quarterback, and with his coaches. For him to succeed, the entire team had to operate as one, with flawless communications and collaboration. And, in the end, the only thing that mattered was results - the highly visible touchdowns and wins.

Supply Chain Agility requires much of the same. All participants in the chain must be part of an integrated physical network with consistent integrated processes. Visible measurements are hallmarks of agile supply chains. And agile supply chains are focused on customer outcomes - not doing things for the sake of doing them "right," but to achieve results.

Supply Chain Flexibility

Walter Payton was not only a running back for the ages, he was a talented receiver, as dangerous coming out of the backfield without the ball as he was with it. Maybe he was the best receiver in the modern Bear era. He threw an excellent forward pass, which resulted in a number of touchdowns, and ulcers for opposing defenders.

Similarly, supply chains must be flexible enough to meet the needs of a wide variety of situations, and capable of taking different paths on very short notice.

The "one-size-fits-all" supply chain concept is doomed. As is any attempt to build a highly complex solution designed to be a "permanent" solution. There need to be different chains for different products and channels, for different product characteristics and geographies. The chain(s) need to be able to adapt on the fly when conditions - e.g., volumes, order profiles, value-add requirements - change. (There's that speed issue, again.)

Supply Chain Effectiveness

Walter's records speak for themselves. Everything he did on the field was done with economy and purpose. The combination of speed, agility, and flexibility led to consistent and enduring results. These were not accomplished through sheer talent (although there was plenty of that to draw on), but through hard work, dedication, and training, amplified with enormous personal effort and determination.

So, too, in the supply chain world, the qualities of hard work and dedication, of effort and determination, and of training, are what lead to confident execution, continuous improvement, and consistent success.

What About Supply Chain Logistics?

"Sweetness" was the glue that held the team together during the lean years. He remained the focus of fans and teammates through all the distractions provided in the Buddy Ryan and Mike Ditka years. Supply Chain Logistics is the glue that holds the other supply chain concepts together.

The idea of Supply Chain Logistics encompasses movement in all stages of extraction, conversion, and finished product physical distribution. It entails planning and synchronizing activities in procurement, manufacturing, packaging, storage, and shipping.

It involves physical operations, as well as movement. Transportation planning and management are obvious, but warehouse operations, facility design, material handling systems, and Logistics Information Systems are all part of the Supply Chain Logistics solution.

Supply Chain Logistics organizes activities around end-user demand, and recognizes the importance of coordinating the movement financial and status information along with the flow of products, both outbound and inbound.

This article was prepared by The Progress Group and is intended to honor Walter Payton. No endorsement of The Progress Group or its services by Walter Payton or his estate exists, is implied or intended.

About The Progress Group

The Progress Group is an independent management consultancy, specializing in Integrated Logistics and Supply Chain Management operations and information systems. We define Supply Chain Logistics to span "from the suppliers' suppliers through the customers' customers." Our clients are leading organizations in North and South America, Europe, and Asia, representing a spectrum of industries, including: automotive, retail apparel, consumer-direct, textiles, service parts, telecommunications, electronics, distribution, wholesale and retail grocery, chemicals, and consumer goods manufacturing.

For more information, please visit our web site at www.theprogressgroup.com.
The Progress Group, 1080 Holcomb Bridge Road, 100 Roswell Summit, Suite 300, Roswell, Georgia 30076
phone: (770)804-9920 fax: (770)804-9925 email: info@theprogressgroup.com

About the Author

Art Van Bodegraven is a Partner in The Progress Group, and the former six-time Chairman of TPG’s international affiliate, The Supply Chain Group. He may be reached at (614) 336 0346, (614) 893 9414 (mobile), or avan@theprogressgroup.com.

Home • About Us • Services • Clients • Publications • Contact Us