Gary J. Gates Minimizing the "Oops" in Operations

Welcome to GaryJGates.com.

This site provides a look at Gary J. Gates, a risk management professional with extensive experience in identifying and managing risks for both the business operation and it’s supply chain.  This is accomplished through developing and maintaining an organizational risk strategy, educating the company of the various risks each department and discipline faces, monitoring risk threats, managing projects to reduce risks and associated costs and building  contingency plans, all focused on minimizing the “oops” in operations. 

Managing Business Operations Risk

There are a number of risks all business face as well as government requirements the business must adhere to.  These risks include protecting the business from law suits, physical damage such as fires and floods, employment practices, reputation, employee safety, customers not paying, data breaches, government compliance, and other known and unknown physical and legal issues.  Additionally there are a number of strategic risks a business faces falling into broad categories such as industry, technology, brand, competitor, and customer   

Even prior to the economic downturn, both government and business ratings organizations have focused on how companies identify and manage risk.  Compliance to Sarbanes Oxley is a major concern of all businesses, and a number of new measures have been and are being put into place as protection from the Red Flag regulations on data storage of customer information, to the updating of the DOT requirements on transportation companies inspection of vehicles and rolling stock.

Managing Supply Chain Risk

In the continuing effort to reduce costs and maximize profit and provide quality service to our customers, the supply chain has been continually revamped, tweaked, and optimized.  The focus has been to remove both cost and slack time from the process.  In a recent survey on risk in supply chain the predominate focus is the optimization of the supply chain as a major contributor to cost reduction and profit improvement. 

In many cases the changes have resulted in substantial savings to the organization, with a substantial increase in the risk that a link in the chain may be brittle, or stretched to the breaking point.  Often these negative impact risks are not identified or monitored and when something goes wrong, the company is forced into major firefighting mode.

It’s important to remember that a supply chain is a series of interconnected items, processes and companies where the strength of the chain is only as strong as the weakest link.  No longer is there a need to just monitor your customers credit worthiness, but the viability of your supplier (and their supplier) is also paramount in delivering your product to the consumer.  

Gary’s View on Managing Risk

I believe in blending the traditional risk management approach with a pro-active look at strategic risks and educating the organization to better recognize the risks as well as the rewards of decisions.  This would include understanding and preparing for the possibility of the downside occurring as well as identifying and preparing to capitalize on the overwhelming success. 

Risk can be found in all departments of the organization, from the loading dock to the HR department, accounting to maintenance, IT to customer service, purchasing to sales.  It is important not only to understand the risks each area faces, but to help them understand  how to deal with these risks by accepting, mitigating, transferring or capitalizing on them in accordance with the overall risk strategy and philosophy of the organization.

In my related blog “Managing Business Risk“, I share thoughts, ideas and news on items that are important to managing the risks of an organization.  These posts encompass a wide range of topics including pandemic, insurance programs, certificates of insurance, and supply chain issues.

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