Fred Harried

Rakesh Sharma

“We will what?” I had heard it. We will be doubling shipments in the next 4 months, and this was just the beginning. I cannot say I wasn’t excited. It felt good. Volumes going up.. Its a good problem to have.

But the memories of demand sliding unexpectedly were etched clearly in my mind.. Customers pulling off orders and the “so called” demand going.. kaput.. And we were left holding the bag of tons of inventory.. Clearly, we couldn’t afford that.. I mean that would be catastrophic for a small company like us.

I remember Rakesh and I chatting about the general landscape of Operations over a sandwich. Can we change the world of Ops? Is it possible that a small company like Ruckus Wireless could take on its bigger rivals, with much lesser resources and buying power? Could we create the right set of processes, and equip the Ops team with the right set of tools (without breaking the bank)? Processes and tools that could help us walk this tight-rope, prepare forecasts and “truly” understand the “demand” behind it?  And if we could not understand demand, just make sure we arm the team with the right information and insights so we can succeed most of the time?  And get our customers to embrace and cheer for us during worst case scenarios?

At IBF’s San Francisco conference this month, we look forward to sharing our journey with you.  This includes how we went on to build an Operations model and processes that is purpose-built to respond to customer demand and changes, while keeping a tight lid on costs. It will be wonderful if you join us.

If you have any thoughts, questions we would love to hear from you. Please drop us a comment.

Fred Harried, Vice President, Operations
Ruckus Wireless

Rakesh Sharma, President
Zyom, Inc.

See FRED HARRIED from RUCKUS WIRELESS & RAKESH SHARMA from ZYOM Speak in San Francisco at IBF’s:

$895 USD for Conference Only!

April 28-30, 2010 (3 Days)
San Francisco, California USA