The five-year-old is now six, and getting sophisticated.  The other night at dinner, a pan-Asian cuisine spectacular, he confidently announced, "You know, you have to use chapsticks to eat this kind of food."  Taken aback, I dropped my chapsticks on the floor, occasioning grumbling from his grandmother  and shrieks of laughter from the munchkins assembled, who thought it was all part of the act.

 Reflecting on the incident later, I contemplated the dangers involved in applying close, but not quite right, tools to supply chain planning and operations.  They often sound like the right thing to do, the right way to go.  But, without closer examination, they could prove to be not as useful as hoped, or worse, downright harmful.  The difference between chapsticks and chopsticks is minimal in print, noticeable upon inspection, and catastrophic in mis-application.

Whomever is selling either solution, is usually confident, and persuasive, though.  It's up to you to discover when you need - and can benefit from - trying to use one or the other.

Note: ChapStick is a registered trademark of Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, which is being acquired by Pfizer Inc.