Supply Chain Management at Help With Assignment

Supply Chain Management

The study of Supply Chain Management has gained a lot of importance in today’s business management. There is a lot of significance attached to Supply Chain Management these days because of the interconnection between businesses in a global environment where in order to assemble a product, a company needs to procurement of components is done through a minimum of two or three countries.

The subject has a wider scope as it covers al most all the concepts related to movement and storage of raw materials, intermediary goods and finished products from point of origin to the point of consumption.

The usual issues that are handled by a supply chain management system include:

• Distribution Network Configuration
• Distribution Strategy
• Trade-offs in Logistical Activities
• Information
• Inventory Management
• Cash-flow

In each of these areas supply chain management plays a significant role in supplying goods at the right time, supplying goods at a lower cost, decrease in cost of maintaining stock of raw materials costs, etc. These are some of the usual problems that nay trading or manufacturing business will face. These issues such as goods reaching lately, increase in the cost of transportation, increase in the cost of maintenance of goods, etc. With the implementation of Supply Chain Management, these costs can be reduced and the business can increase their profits by decreasing their costs.

Supply Chain is a cross-function approach in the sense that it takes care of entry of raw materials into the business. It is also involved in the quick manufacture of products and ultimately, it is also used in the movement of goods from the manufacturing concern to the consumers.

Supply chain management, as a system is a network optimization method under which a business is linked with the suppliers, distributions, customers, where communications media are created for communication between them for the supply and delivery of raw materials and finished goods takes place. In other words, it is a formidable system in a product life cycle management.

Today, we can observe many companies such as Dell and Hewlett Packard have created their own supply chain management systems according to their business or core models.

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Responsive Supply Chain Management in Manufacturing Industry from HelpWithAssignment.com

Responsive Supply Chain Management in Manufacturing Industry from HelpWithAssignment.com

Responsive Supply Chain management in manufacturing industry is one of the aspects of emphasis.

In Supply Chain Management, we can see that supply chain managers are overwhelmed with a range of leading-edge supply chain strategies and new business initiatives. However, not all these initiatives and strategies are appropriate for all businesses. Supply chain managers need to understand the constraints of the supply of their products and the uncertainties with the right supply chain strategies.

In designing supply chain in an e-biz environment, companies have to integrate various aspects of competitive priority, the nature of the product and the complexity of the manufacturing process in order to be successful. When designing a supply chain, some fundamental principals of value chain should be exploited to respond quickly to the dynamic business environment. As such, supply chain design needs to be fine-tuned constantly to match the evolving industry paradigm.

When new product introductions are frequent and product variety is high, the responsive supply chain option is more attractive as it reacts quickly to market demand. When product life cycle is long, demand is relatively stable and demand volume is high, efficient supply chain is more appropriate. Both responsive supply chain and efficient supply chain can be applied to fast, medium and slow clock speed products.

A product clock speed can be fast, medium or slow. A product life cycle and its manufacturing process life cycle is associated wit the product clock speed.

Responsive supply chain in manufacturing industry

Responsive supply chain and fast clock speed product – personal computer

• The PC industry is a fast clock speed industry. Here the industry faces short product life cycles. The product is generally made in a make-to-order production environment. Facing this business environment, PC producers adopt the responsive supply chain strategy to reduce order cycle, production cycle and procurement cycle. Let us consider Dell Computer as example.
• Dell Computer designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of systems that include desktops, notebooks, workstations and network servers. Dell also markets software and peripherals as well as service and support programs.
• It is centered on two key elements: a direct business model and intense customer focus, Dell strives to eliminate retailers and other resellers so as to reduce product delivery cycle time and cost. Dell sells computer systems and related services directly to customers in the global market through internet and call centers.
• To reduce order cycle, Dell uses the internet and call centers to promote its direct order model. The traditional PC supply chain has distribution network as an additional link in the supply chain. Customers can order PCs directly from Dell and configure computers to meet their needs.
• The orders are directly routed to the manufacturing floor. From there the PCs are built, tested and sent to the customers all within 5-7 business days after the customers placed the orders. Dell’s direct model allows for better understanding of customer needs.
• To reduce its procurement cycle time, Dell shifts from a traditionally fashioned assembly line to cellular manufacturing techniques and established strategic alliances with its key suppliers.
• It forges partnerships with reputable suppliers rather than integrating backward into parts and components manufacturing. Since new parts and components are introduced so fast that inventory is obsolete in a matter of months or even quicker. Dell only holds its inventory for not more than 10 days.
• Meanwhile Dell supplies its inventory data and production needs to its suppliers at least once a day. Collaboration with suppliers is close enough to allow Dell to operate with only a few hours of inventory for some parts and a few days of inventory for other components. Dell’s direct model capitalizes the benefits of e-commerce.

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This article is in continuation with our previous article on Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management at HelpWithAssignment.com

Supply Chain Management:

A supply chain is defined as a set of three or more companies directly linked by one or more of the upstream and downstream flow of products, services, finances and information from the source to a customer.

Management is on the verge of a major breakthrough in understanding how industrial company success depends on the interactions between the flows of information, materials, money, manpower and capital equipment. The way these five flow systems interlock to amplify one another and to cause change and fluctuation will form the basis for anticipating the effects of decisions, policies, organizational forms and investment choices.

The reasons for the popularity of Supply Chain Management are because:

• Corporations have turned increasingly, to global sources for their supplies. This globalization of supply management has forced companies to look for more effective ways to coordinate the flow of materials into and out of the company.
• Companies and distribution channels compete more today on the basis of time and quality. Making a defect-free product and selling it to customer faster and more reliably than the competition is no longer seen as a competitive advantage but simply as a requirement in the market. Customers demand products consistently delivered faster, exactly on time and with no damage. Each of these necessitates closer coordination with suppliers and distributors.
• This global orientation and increased performance-based competition combined with rapidly changing technology and economic conditions all contribute to market place uncertainty. This uncertainty requires greater flexibility on the part of individual companies and distribution channels, which in turn demands more flexibility in channel relationships.

But, there are not many corporations that actually take up the concept of Supply Chain Management very seriously. In a survey conducted by Accenture, Stanford University and global business school INSEAD tried to figure out why aren’t even big corporations are not inclined towards Supply Chain Management. It was found that more than half of the companies that tried to implement encountered unexpected problems.

• Some companies complained that the technology implementation did not work out properly.
• Some companies complained that the cost of the project was very high and it never came close to meeting service targets.
• Some companies complained that the supply chain projects were inconsistent with the company’s current business strategy.
• Some companies complained that it was too difficult in managing things internally and externally.

Now, a question arises, is implementing supply chain management so difficult? Yes, not all companies have succeeded in implementing supply chain management. Some of the companies which have successfully implemented it have for many years aggressively attacked their inventory problems, committed resources to improving its customer service levels and partnered with their key suppliers to take control of its supply chain.

Top performing supply chains do things a little differently than everybody else. Most supply chain companies:

• They aim for balance. These companies may not be the very best in every category, but they are consistently good enough in all areas that they add up to be the best in class.
• They increase demand visibility. Having a high level of forecast accuracy is the key to reach perfect order fulfillment, which is the holy grail of customer service.
• They isolate high costs. The best companies know where they hold their costs and why, so that’s where they focus their best practices and technology investments.

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Supply Chain Management at HelpWithAssignment.com

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers.

The philosophy of Supply Chain Management takes a systems approach to viewing the channel as a single entity, rather than as a set of fragmented parts, each performing its own function. There are three concepts in Supply Chain Management. These concepts are tightly interconnected.

Network structure: The Network structure comprises collaboration partners in a supply chain, as well as the relationships between these players. For many businesses it is a novel challenge to choose and work in a structured manner with business relationships. A good way to start is to describe the roles the business fills today and the roles the business wishes to fill in the future in terms of supply chain.

Business Processes: Business Processes encompass the activities and flows of information that are connected with conducting materials, products and services through the supply chain and on to customers. Examples of important business processes include Order Processing, Customer Services, Distribution, Product Development and supply, and

Management: The Management component is the third element in the SCM reference framework. There are a number of management components, which span business processes and the roles of participants in the supply chain. It is of key importance to be aware of these common components in order to secure the successful completion of supply chain project, because they determine how the individual processes are managed and how they are integrated.

There are many different types of supply chains of which four main types are:

Type1: Dynamic/Low level of influence from the company in focus.

This type operates under dynamic conditions while the company in focus has only limited influence on the other participants involved in the supply chain. The dynamic condition can be explained by frequent internal process changes, due to multiple product configurations or external market conditions with a myriad of competitors as well as many new product launches.

Type2: Dynamic/high degree of influence held by the company in focus.

In this type of supply chain the focus company has power/ influence over the other participants. In this situation, the focus company will with its purchasing power or innovative image tends to become important cooperative partner for the other links in the supply chain.

Type3: Static/ focus company has a low level of influence.

This supply chain works under stable conditions, both internally and externally. Total cost effectiveness will often be the primary aspect of competition. Focus will be on increasing effectiveness within the logistics processes, including improving processes, integrating information systems, reducing inventory and making full use of capacity.

Type4: Static/ focus company has high degree of influence.

In this type of supply chain the focus company enjoys a high degree of influence over the other parties involved. This situation indicates that the dominant company can choose its cooperation partners and make the necessary decisions regarding the organization of the supply chain, as well as increasing its effectiveness.

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