Twas the night before Christmas, and I was alone in the DC.

This was the strangest year in Supply Chain I ever hope to see.

Our performance reports were hung by the office with care,

But in this kind of year, it was more hope and a prayer.

As VP of Supply Chain, I must lead the ship,

But 2009 was sure a year I could skip.

Recession, depression, a "new normal," they say,

I'd love to find someone confident they now know the way.

My focus this year was largely to cut, cut, cut, cut;

Did we take it too far? I say "Yes" in my gut.

Demand volatility is a new fact of life;

While we chopped inventories with a rather blunt knife.

As we took a look at our network, we now all realize,

There is much opportunity to re-optimize.

"Less fixed cost, more variable," our CEO insists.

But is an "accordion supply chain" not without risks?

As I sat and pondered this year and next, there quick arose such a clatter,

I thought a bay of reserve racks falling down was the matter.

I jumped into my personal Cushman, raced past each and every dock door,

Towards the back of the DC - what would I find on the floor?

But as I swung round bulk storage, I saw I had nothing to dread,

For there sat St. Nick, on a new Crown truck, green and red.

The red matched his bright suit, which could not have been finer,

Though a small tag in the back did say "Made in China."

He was hanging some stockings from the racking's first beam,

And I could see on each one the names of my supply chain's first team.

On a pallet sat a big bundle, which he grabbed with a laugh,

And I wondered what Santa could have in store for my staff.

He said, "I brought you the gifts that will help you to achieve,

Supply chain excellence and agility in 2010, I believe.

"For your head of global logistics, finally some real software has landed;

Today they fight global trade management challenges simply one handed!

"Your forecasting head will like 'demand sensing' tools quite a lot;

No ones quite sure what they are...but they really seem hot!

"For your director of transportation, a real-time load optimizer,

And carrier bid tools, so your freight contracts are wiser.

"For your inventory team, I can remove much of their pain,

With inventory optimization across every echelon in the chain.

"Your DC manager will like the voice pick system she'll be receiving,

And an advanced WMS that supports task interleaving.

"For you, a new Supply Chain dashboard, with all the metrics you want,

So you can see by the second who's performing, and who's not!"

Then he paused for a second, and put a finger to his lips,

Reached in his bag, and pulled out a fistful of chips.

"And the greatest gift of all, as I'm sure you'll agree,

Is for everyone, everywhere - lots of RFID!"

He dropped the tags in the stockings, turned round with some flair,

Pushed a button on the Crown, and it took off in the air!

"Thank you Santa," I shouted, "These are really great tools!

But we'll need help to deploy them, configure business rules!"

Santa yelled, "Yes, the value from tech is sometimes not resultant.

But my elves are just coders - better hire lots of consultants!"

And I heard him exclaim, as he floated high above,

"Yes, supply chain's sure hard, but it's the business we love!"

Source: RetailWire, through an arrangement with Supply Chain Digest, December 23, 2009