The Missing Links (A Demand Driven Supply Chain Detective Novel)

This utterly unique how-to supply chain management work is written as mystery to help engage readers. It fills the need for an accessible work on supply chain management skills that helps strengthen, improve, and adapt the management of industries to meet the swiftly changing needs of a global market.

The Missing Links follows a small furniture company whose owner has died under suspicious circumstances, leaving his musician daughter in charge. The business newcomer encounters a multitude of problems–high work-in-progress inventory, unsafe working conditions, conflicts between two in-house factions, longstanding customers beginning to withdraw their business, and increased competition. Can the factory ever be profitable again?

The work follows the journey of the company to utilize industry standards, including total quality, lean, total productive maintenance, flow management, as well as the newest demand driven methodologies that are changing modern supply chain management. “Clues” dispersed throughout the manuscript point readers in the direction of an affiliated website where they will find 33 appendices of charts, forms, and additional improvement information that can be customized, regardless of size of the company, or industry.  

Features

• Unique approach similar to the bestselling work, The Goal–wraps a how-to book on supply chain management in a mystery novel.
• Introduces the effectiveness and simplicity of new demand driven methodologies (DDMRP), along with total quality, lean, TPM, and flow management.
• Written by an award-winning French author, and President of Fapics, the French Association of Supply Chain Management.
• “Clues” throughout the manuscript point to 33 full-color appendices on an affiliated website that will be updated regularly after the book is published.
• Ties in perfectly with the Demand Driven Institute’s certification programs.

Reviews

“The Missing Links by Caroline Mondon is similar to The Goal by Dr. Eli Goldratt, probably the best selling business novel ever written. Caroline has written a compelling story about a fictional, privately held manufacturing company that is facing serious challenges when the owner of the company suddenly dies, and his daughter is left to take over the business. It clearly explains the process necessary for a company to adopt the latest thinking about planning and management as the organization struggles to adapt to the changing needs of customers as they become ever more demanding. This book can be read by anyone with an interest in how businesses can be run more efficiently and effectively. ”—Keith Lauchbury, CFPIM, CIRM, CSCP, CDDP, Past President of APICS, the premier professional association for supply chain management

“For more than 15 years, I have been involved with education in the field of sup-ply chain management. The Missing Links has been a real inspiration for showing how to explain both fundamental and advanced concepts of business management, supply chain management, and innovation. The storyline of the book makes it easy to understand the importance and leverage of supply chain management concepts, even for smaller companies. It was a pleasure reading about the development and transformation of a small traditional company into a modern, next-century enterprise. The way innovative concepts and methods have been applied in the book is logical and helps readers quickly get over a steep learning curve. I will definitely recommend this book to my supply chain management students.”—Andrea Walbert, CPIM, CSCP, PLS, CDDP Managing Partner, PMI (Production Management Institute) GmbH

“I wish all textbooks were written like this one! The Missing Links is easy to read and understand, written as a realistic story about the development of a factory, and set up as a detective story. The work is great for remembering supply chain management concepts. as an NLP Master trainer and International Leadership trainer, I especially enjoyed Caroline’s use of metaphors to enhance understanding and to use as memory hooks. This shows how you can ‘walk your talk,’ whether you are a president of a company or a student.”—Eva Hyllstam,  NLP Master Trainer and International Leadership Trainer, Business Owner, World Trade Center, Gothenburg, Sweden