supply chain management process

supply chain management process

Optimizing the Supply Chain Management Process

1. Introduction to Supply Chain Management

Over the last two decades, a growing consensus has developed pointing out the important contribution that effectively managed supply chains can play in enhancing a firm’s profitability over time. Firms, including service organizations, realized that to achieve supply chain excellence, they must develop the ability to anticipate what customers would want and then align all firms along their supply chain enterprise to facilitate satisfying customers’ needs. In this scenario, customer demands inspired companies to position themselves in a supplier position to develop a rapid stimulation process that could, in turn, keep a seamless flow of supply for the goods and services that they would need to produce. This scenario remains relevant; however, the process used to keep the seamless flow of goods and services has dramatically changed with the advent of the Internet and online shopping.

In this chapter, we will provide an overview of the supply chain process from a business model perspective. Specifically, we will analyze the effect of demand forecasting on the customer-provider relationship and determine how data analytics can mine demand data to keep this business model viable. We will also address how the concepts of supplier development and sustainability are manifest in supply chain and logistics strategies and how the effective processing and sharing of data among supply chain members can accelerate the effectiveness of both of these strategies.

2. Key Components of the Supply Chain Management Process

2. According to Gattorna, supply chain management is a management and control system that needs constant analysis and restructuring to help the organization achieve its objectives with the lowest possible total cost of supply chain management. It is essential that any organization considers the management of several functions such as purchasing and supply, production, distribution and transportation management, customer service, customer order management, and inventory control. Any person responsible for the company’s supply chain management process depends on all its logistics processes.

1. Supply chain management is a very complex field given the multiple steps that an organization performing the process encompasses. Someone who performs supply chain management must have experience with and have a degree in the areas of economics, logistics, operations management, and strategic decision management. An experience in these areas is such that the person must have received training within a reputable company to acquire the necessary skills to efficiently carry out the processes. Although supply chain management is a subject of great interest, there is no specificity of defined processes and actions that will help a company optimize its supply chain.

3. Challenges and Solutions in Supply Chain Management

Transportation of goods has experienced a big impact following the long-term trend. It significantly affects company strategy. Sophisticated integrated information working systems and effective telematics are established as the tools that the supply chain developed sustainable TQM approaches that contributed to the economy. The nomination, contest, award-giving ceremonies, public reporting system with results of the winners, details of the successful approaches and efforts were the key points of the process. The paper presents the efforts of mixed manufacturers, logistics providers, supply chain on a product transportation route/transport method. The presented chart can be used with the same success by any other company regarding their ability to make SC/CC transportation route/cross-company transportation decision. The tool can be updated from time to time and the traceable visual aspect of the results will make it more and more powerful for navigating the decision of multimodal transportation stakeholders.

Supply chain management is a set of processes that are needed to get a product or service to a customer. The movement of goods, information, and other assets from the supplier to the customer and back is a part of the supply chain. Warehousing, transportation, purchasing, manufacturing, marketing, and production-planning functions are all included in the supply chain process. Managing a supply chain offers an opportunity to reduce the cost of the goods. To remain competitive, it is necessary to have well-designed, well-controlled supply chain processes. Furthermore, it provides suppliers with feedback on the goods in the form of quality control and also with standards that need to be achieved. Logistics plays a key role in the process management of the supply chain. Logistics has the power over materials, movement, packaging, and storing and scheduling.

4. Technological Innovations in Supply Chain Management

In digital supply chains, blockchain-based IoT has the potential to transform traditional supply chain management capabilities because of its ability to connect the physical and digital domains. Blockchain is perceived as a supply chain innovation that will have a strong impact on supply chain improvements, particularly when deployed within IoT applications. Several other digital technologies can be used to improve supply chain management, such as big data, analytical techniques, IoT, radiofrequency, and cloud computing. All these technologies can be classified as innovative software solutions that, through using big data and the efficient and effective performance of transactions, processes, and data analytics in real time or in semi-real time, increase visibility throughout the supply chain. These technologies can also enable the network to adapt rapidly to potential disruptions and changes.

Technological innovations in supply chain management have had an enormous effect on the pace of logistics advancements, especially in terms of e-commerce, automatically identifying products, radiofrequency scanning, focusing of pick-to-light and pick-to-voice, tracked items, and scheduling and optimizing scheduling of materials. These advancements use Internet of Things (IoT) technology, which combines wireless sensor data streams with analytical tools that enable live monitoring of assets, processes, and the environment. The data can then be transformed into information and/or relevant business insights in real time to support the strategic, tactical, and operational decision-making process.

5. Best Practices and Strategies for Effective Supply Chain Management

5.1 Efficiently Managing Across the P2P Spectrum The most effective supply chain organizations manage across the P2P spectrum. One OB10 customer, a global technology firm, is a perfect example. This company truly manages the entire process from start to finish and works to drive efficient financial operations across its supply base. As we noted earlier, the best way to handle a majority of paper invoices from suppliers is to not handle those paper invoices at all. The majority of non-PO based invoices result from suppliers’ “changes or shifts” relative to original purchase orders; approximately 60 percent of spend is a straight price, with other terms such as quantity, date, location, or delivery shifted during fulfillment. The approach of “first PO, then paper” leverages a P2P strategy that if a PO is present, prices, quantities, etc. can be matched in the order line data to the faxed and scanned invoice enter to pay cycle. The firm that fully realizes the P2P strategy manages exceptions only, rejecting those invoices that cannot be matched and then contacting the suppliers for updated invoices.

Introduction The best practices in the supply chain are a framework that is designed to increase the accuracy, efficiency, and production of the supply chain process across the entire firm. By developing best practices across all sections of the supply chain, managers can prepare and convince their colleagues about what new systems must do and how well they are working. Assumptions and targets that different departments have about supply chain integration and information gathering and sharing can lead to conflicts. Effective best practices reflect the assumption that continuous innovation will always take place in the supply chain process, and that most of the change will come from downstream chains responding to customer requirements. Managers changing a supply chain can use benchmark information for outside stakeholders and funding proposals.