Double Bio, then the weekend!
Finally, Friday afternoon and looking forward to running out of school with a whole weekend of football ahead. Just a double Biology lesson to get through and then 2 days of freedom from books, blackboards and dissecting bugs. Suddenly, the Bio teacher announces to the acne ridden class that humans have a tail........ Your ears prick up and kicking a ball around exits the mind temporarily. You wait for the punch line from the crusty teacher (Windy Miller actually) with leather elbow patches followed by the inevitable collective student guffaw. But no, my word, it is true! Our human coccyx or tailbone is what remains of our long lost tail.
All mammals have had a tail at one point in their development. In homo sapiens it is physically present for a period of 4 weeks, during stages 14 to 22 of human embryogenesis. The 'modern' tailbone, located at the base of the spine, has long lost its original function in assisting with balance and mobility. The human tail still retains some secondary functions, such as being an attachment point for muscles, which explains why it has not degraded any further – we really need it.
Pippa Middleton's tail
Can you imagine living with a real, live clearly defined tail? Think of all the items we take for granted that would have to be redeveloped; trousers, SCUBA gear, chairs, Lycra cycling suits........... Would the sight of Pippa with a tail flopping energetically about behind her as she entered Westminster Abbey in 2011 have created such a stir?
Anyway, the key point is that the human tail has lost its original function in assisting balance and mobility. We do not need a tail to stand up, move or balance like many other mammals continue to do. Sadly, human development has not been matched in the world of FMCG. Here the fully formed SKU tails flops around uncontrollably, creating quite the opposite beneficial effects desired from our ancient appendage.
A tail of a few pities
Despite all the wisdom that screams at companies to routinely review, refine and trim their SKU offering, few actually have this as a routine process and fewer still actually attain operational excellence in this area. Take a ruthless look at your own SKU tail and see if any are actually delivering positive profit/margin/volume – probably surprisingly few considering the assumptions of the late, great Vilfredo Pareto aka Mr 80/20.
What will be having a huge and negative effect on your cost and service performance will be a unwieldly tail full of old, boring, tired, unprofitable, dusty SKUs that seem to stick like glue (other, less pleasant materials are available) to the price list. There always seems to be a jolly good reason to keep certain SKUs and perhaps there are range or local jewel special cases but far too many companies endure tails that simply drain cash, take up space and critically, waste the daily attention of valuable human resource. Yes, causing imbalance and immobility!
Waste not, want not
Why would you employ someone to work on unprofitable tasks, brands or SKUs? Get the best employees behind the SKUs that work, help you grow and that consumers actually want on retailer shelves. Take an analytical look at your own company and you may be shocked to find some employees are picking up salaries while actually generating zero profit, or worse!
If you desire growth in these difficult times then one assured and low cost way to help is not to allow your lengthy, value destroying SKU tail to define your performance or 'wag the dog'. Starting at least a quarterly SKU Evaluation Process will cause a little pain to begin with but the longer term cross-company benefits far, far outweigh this minor irritation.
Help, I need somebody!
If you have any Supply Chain or Route to Market problems or opportunities you would like to discuss, then please reach out to Enchange.com via telephone, email, or live chat.
