Which supply chain roles do you think function well remotely?

I think many supply chain functions can function well remotely, but not all. Any roles from a demand planning perspective, supply planning perspective, demand fulfillment perspective, and some logistics activities can still work well remotely because they're mainly information flow based, and we've adapted our technology to manage that information well anywhere. However, that's only sometimes the case. Anything related to material flow and the actual movement of goods will not function well remotely because you can't move material from home. At least, we haven't figured that out yet. For instance, a detailed scheduler working on a shop floor needs to be on-site to understand the current conditions and see possible issues, typically by conducting a shop floor Gemba walk. Do we have enough inventory to run the next batch? What is the current manufacturing schedule? Is it on track? Is it behind? We do much of that right now through our tier process, which is still best executed with people working face-to-face. 

 

Regarding manufacturing and quality, those are out of scope for my response because they are managed separately at Merck, even though some companies consider manufacturing and quality shop floors as part of their supply chain.