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It sounds like HN readers could stand to spend a little time studying microeconomics. I would love to see a Valley solution to the problem of sourcing raw mate

It sounds like HN readers could stand to spend a little time studying microeconomics. I would love to see a Valley solution to the problem of sourcing raw materials including energy, storing raw materials, sourcing packaging, storing packaging, sourcing machine parts, storing machine parts, keeping track of vendors, machine maintenance labor, machine maintenance scheduling, cost accounting for the inputs, manufacturing and machine schedule management, demand forecasting, supply & replenishment planning, WIP inventory management, finished goods inventory management, inventory accounting, sourcing shipping, planning shipping, actually shipping, invoicing, printing invoices, printing all documents (manifest, bills of lading), extending credit, managing credit lines..... oh yeah accepting purchase orders, making to order, promising inventory, managing inventory allocation in tight markets, managing in transit inventory, collecting payment, transferring cash, reporting all of this to the SEC and IRS so you don't get sued, remitting taxes, managing headcount, paying employees.... I probably forgot a lot of stuff and this is only for domestic sales. Export has so many other problems to solve like tariffs and duties, container management on the dock, steamship management, etc. I'm not being sarcastic either, I would LOVE to see a solution that has a better UX than SAP that solves all of these problems.

ulucs 7y ago
If the answer you get is this terrible, then maybe you're asking the wrong question. For example, I know the tale of a large multinational consumer goods company who bought their supplier for X. Coincidentally, the X supplier was also the largest exporter of X goods to the world and had a team of twelve who managed operations. The multinational company, in their great wisdom, decided to move the operations from what we Turks call "bakkal defteri" (basically pen and paper) to SAP. It turns out that twelve people were not enough to run the system over SAP, and they basically had to tenfold the number of operations people just to get it running.
aneutron 7y ago
Everyone used to say the same about every product ever created. Until the new market player came into town and proved it could be done. The answer is pretty simple actually. You make a couple of billions a year. Invest a single billion in a full UX revamp for 5 years down the line, and see how it all works out. Throwing money at problems doesn't always work, but when you have a lot of money, and a very specific problem, it tends to work.

ulucs 7y ago

If the answer you get is this terrible, then maybe you're asking the wrong question. For example, I know the tale of a large multinational consumer goods company who bought their supplier for X. Coincidentally, the X supplier was also the largest exporter of X goods to the world and had a team of twelve who managed operations. The multinational company, in their great wisdom, decided to move the operations from what we Turks call "bakkal defteri" (basically pen and paper) to SAP. It turns out that twelve people were not enough to run the system over SAP, and they basically had to tenfold the number of operations people just to get it running.

aneutron 7y ago

Everyone used to say the same about every product ever created. Until the new market player came into town and proved it could be done. The answer is pretty simple actually. You make a couple of billions a year. Invest a single billion in a full UX revamp for 5 years down the line, and see how it all works out. Throwing money at problems doesn't always work, but when you have a lot of money, and a very specific problem, it tends to work.