by Table of Contents
The Silent Wall Between Ops and Engineering
You feel it every day, even if you can’t quite name it. The tension between “getting things done” and “fixing how things are done.” The firefighting culture of operations versus the methodical, forward-thinking nature of engineering. If you’re leading a supply chain team without a dedicated engineering function, you probably know this all too well.
Operations folks are pros at keeping the machine running. They track shipments, solve today’s issues, and hustle to hit this week’s KPIs. They live in the now. Engineers, on the other hand, live in the next. They ask questions like, “How can we redesign this process so we never face this problem again?” They’re wired for prevention, for systems thinking, for long-term optimization.
In most companies, these two functions coexist. But in smaller orgs or lean teams, there’s often no dedicated supply chain engineering team. So who does the engineering work? Most of the time, no one. Or worse, it’s given to operations without the training, tools, or time to do it right.
And that’s where the wall gets built—quietly, but solidly. A wall of misunderstanding, mismatched expectations, and untapped potential. A wall that makes people think their job is just to get through the day rather than change how the day works altogether.
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When Ops Are Asked to Engineer
Let’s talk about what really happens when people from the operations side are given engineering tasks.
They’re asked to design warehouse layouts, optimize transport routes, analyze throughput data, or build simulation models. But no one told them how to think like an engineer. They approach the task the same way they approach day-to-day ops: fast, practical, and reactive. Solve the problem, move on to the next.
But engineering problems aren’t solved by instinct alone. They require modeling, validation, iteration, and sometimes the uncomfortable act of stepping back before moving forward. So when ops people dive into engineering waters without a life vest, a few things happen.
Decisions get made quickly, but not always accurately. Solutions favor speed over sustainability. Projects stall because the day job never stops. And perhaps worst of all, talented operators feel frustrated, overwhelmed, or even incapable—not because they lack potential, but because they were never equipped to succeed in this new dimension.
There are meetings where half the people are thinking in terms of constraints, trade-offs, and upstream-downstream effects, while the other half are thinking, “How do I hit my numbers this week?” That gap isn’t about intelligence. It’s about mindset. One is short-cycle; the other, long-cycle. One is about firefighting; the other, fireproofing.
But Here’s the Twist: It Can Work
Now here’s the hopeful part. With the right approach, operations folks can absolutely grow into an engineering mindset. In fact, they often bring something that traditional engineers don’t: deep contextual knowledge.
They know where the real pain points are. They understand which workarounds exist and why. They’ve seen which solutions actually land in the real world, not just on paper. If they can learn to layer this with systems thinking, data analysis, and a proactive mindset, they become incredibly powerful.
And yes, the path is slow. But the magic isn’t in speed. The magic is in direction. If you can change the direction of someone’s thinking—even just 10 degrees toward more structured problem-solving, more holistic thinking, more questioning of the status quo—you’ve planted a seed that can grow into true change.
Operations folks aren’t starting from zero. They’re already expert pattern recognizers. They notice things others miss. They’re great at diagnosing what’s broken. The next step is helping them ask why it’s broken, how it can be redesigned, and what that redesign will affect downstream.
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Scaling Requires More Than Hustle
Let’s say it out loud: hustle alone doesn’t scale. If you want your supply chain to grow without breaking, you need people who think about bottlenecks before they happen, not just people who react when they do.
You need system redesigns, not more headcount. You need tools that prevent issues, not just dashboards that report them. You need your team to stop thinking, “How do I get through today?” and start thinking, “How should this process look if we want to double volume next quarter?”
When you’re in a scaling phase, the cost of firefighting goes up exponentially. Problems that were once small and manageable start cascading. A slight delay at inbound receiving throws off picking, which affects outbound loading, which triggers missed delivery windows, which ends up in customer complaints. Now multiply that by two or five or ten. That’s what scale does—it amplifies the weaknesses in your system.
And here’s the part no one tells you: throwing more people at the problem won’t fix it. In fact, it might mask it. Because people are great at absorbing complexity—until they burn out.
Bridging the Gap Starts With Mindset
So how do you begin?
Start with mindset. Not tools, not org charts, not job titles. Mindset.
Begin by helping your team see that engineering isn’t a department—it’s a way of thinking. It’s about being curious, systematic, and reflective. It’s about solving root causes, not symptoms. And it’s about thinking in terms of systems, trade-offs, and long-term gains.
You don’t need to overhaul everything overnight. Introduce engineering habits one by one. Ask people to map processes. Encourage them to question assumptions. Let them analyze patterns in daily problems instead of patching them up on autopilot. Build reflection time into your weekly ops review.
Start small. Take a recurring problem and spend one week just mapping its causes. No solutions. Just analysis. Get used to seeing problems as systems. Then, slowly move into redesign. Brainstorm options. Discuss trade-offs. Test on a small scale. Learn. Iterate. Scale.
This isn’t about being slower—it’s about being smarter.
The Learning Curve Is Real, and Worth It
Yes, the journey will be slow. People will be uncomfortable at first. And engineering projects will take time to show results.
But every reflection session, every process map, every curious “why” adds up. You’re not just building better systems—you’re building better thinkers. And that’s what will carry your supply chain through growth, complexity, and change.
Eventually, you’ll have operators who can zoom in and out with ease. People who can execute today and design for tomorrow. People who are equally comfortable running the system and reimagining it.
And here’s something else: when people adopt an engineering mindset, they start to feel empowered. They go from reactive to proactive. From doers to designers. From following instructions to making decisions.
You begin to see a different kind of energy in your team. Less firefighting, more problem-solving. Less blame, more systems-thinking. Less “I did my part,” and more “how does this fit into the whole?”
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Stories From the Ground: When Operators Become Engineers
Let’s ground this in reality. Think of an operator named Sarah. She’s worked in fulfillment for five years. She knows the warehouse like the back of her hand. She can tell you exactly which zones slow down during peak, which SKUs always cause picking errors, and where every unofficial workaround lives.
Now imagine Sarah is invited into a process mapping session. At first, she shrugs—”we already know what the problems are.” But then she sees it. The upstream delays she never knew about. The constraints other teams face. The ripple effect of one late trailer.
And then she starts asking questions. “What if we changed the order we receive pallets?” “What if pickers had access to this info earlier?” Her gears start turning.
Fast-forward a few months. Sarah is now leading a cross-functional Kaizen event. She’s using simple data analysis to back up her proposals. She’s presenting trade-offs to leadership. She’s become a supply chain engineer—without the title.
That’s the transformation we’re talking about.
You Don’t Need a Team of Engineers. You Need a Team That Thinks Like Them.
If you’re a supply chain leader without an engineering function, your reality isn’t a limitation. It’s an opportunity. An opportunity to build a new kind of team, one that doesn’t just hustle harder but thinks sharper.
The shift won’t happen overnight. But it can start today.
All it takes is one curious operator, one open conversation, one moment of “why are we doing it this way?” That’s how engineers are born—not in classrooms, but in questions.
And you have everything you need to spark that.
Start where you are. Use what you have. Build who you need.
I hope you find it helpful!
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