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When innovation becomes efficiency: Motorola's global supply chain initiative.

Article Excerpt
A New Era for Motorola and its Supply Chain

When you think innovation at Motorola, its cool new phones jump to mind. The MOTORAZR, MOTOSLVR, MOTOPEBL, and MOTOQ mobile devices have launched a new era of success for the company. Motorola has plunged into the waters of enriching the consumer experience through fun, elegance, and aesthetics, and its bottom line is showing the big impact. A Fortune 100 company, Motorola (www.motorola.corn) increased revenues to $35.3 billion in 2005, After this year's second quarter earnings were released, Motorola chairman and CEO Ed Zander commented, "Motorola continues to deliver excellent quarterly sales and earnings growth. With our solid financial performance and unrelenting focus on innovation and customer satisfaction, Motorola is among the fastest growing large-cap technology companies in the world." He emphasized growth by adding, "In the second quarter, all of our businesses improved sales and grew profits sequentially versus the first quarter." Specific examples include the company's record digital entertainment set-top devices shipments of 2.4 million, as well as its record handset shipments of 51.9 million units in this year's second quarter.

High-style phones are not the only innovation going on at Motorola. The company is working hard behind the scenes to create the preeminent supply chain organization in the world. In doing so, Motorola is a great emerging case study in business process innovation aimed at achieving breakthrough results.

When Ed Zander became chairman and CEO in 2004, he saw some of the same things his predecessor did: autonomous business units that collaborated infrequently, which have been dubbed by some as "warring tribes." While Zander pursued his...

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