A DIG INTO SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
It goes from conventional to modern means in every industry, strategy, management, etc. the bulge comes with accumulation — it can be of anything but visibility is for sure, always. Businesses of every scale have/are suffered/suffering from effective supply chain management. Rectifying it (as early as possible) is the need/demand to avoid a biz catastrophe. Relating the supply chain with the brand’s geographical market value/share is not at all wrong because it all interlinks with brand identity and brand equity it has gained over the years.
The pessimist will not hold back in a situation of crisis, instead, it will uphold the root cause and fix it. Backing with basics, the 5-STEP approach to SCM* i.e. plan, source, make, deliver, and return is sufficient to make the whole process effective. Like from the very first line of the blog, the future of SCM is just a bridged mean of conventional and modern. The legacy-fied conventionals are the prime thoughts that make the road for both modern and future.
Let’s try these 5-STEPS in a Modern-Future manner;
● Plan -It is the step imperative to control both inventory and manufacturing processes. To match the supply-demand ratios, developing one is a need for a course of action (using analytics). It’s well understood that why ‘PLAN’ is kept at the first — it’s linked and proportionate with other down four steps.
It goes like — Procuring the planned is ‘SOURCE’, the production plan is ‘MAKE’, planning within quoted lead time is ‘DELIVER’, and planning the whole chain to get that ‘RETURN’.
● Source -Procurements come into play here, where a team is aligned dedicated to procurement procedures. Identifying vendors and suppliers to match that ‘supply-demand ratio. Most economical and efficient ways are followed during the whole process of sourcing. Sourcing can be of many types-
❖ Direct
❖ Indirect
❖ Hard
❖ Soft
❖ Online
❖ Offline
❖ AI-Driven
Keeping all the above-mentioned types, in a nutshell, these methods are situation and demand-based. Perishment of products also creates an impact, and that’s contrary to the loss/profit in revenues because of quoted lead time signatures provided by vendors and suppliers. The former is following inventory management.
● Make -
From final prototyping confirmed by the client, the manufacturing vendor’s role becomes the white paper — that’s the agency talk. But if we co-relate it with the ‘source’ pointer, the transformation of raw material to the final product is the task to be accomplished. Assembling, testing, and packaging are done in the point of ‘make’. No one likes the negatives, they occur when the whole batch gets manufactured and a fault gets noticed (from the client). Acceptance of batch is also proportionate to the client size and nature. Long-term relationships get maintained on ease-n-loose acted on both sides.
● Deliver -
A better word for that — ‘logistics’, but it covers a part of it. Logistics itself covers some-some of all the above-mentioned pointers. Now the delivery part is the most crucial one, as it involves the transportation of the final packed product to its end-dest. Mapping the whole route while delivering is a must-kept ‘pointer’ to showcase the reduced carbon footprint. Effective delivery also leaves an impact on the client and it gives a proud tap on the shoulder to the agency/company/firm/sender.
*cost-bearing parties can be decided on mutual understanding.
● Return -
Considered as ‘reversed logistics, it includes all the returns that are of defective products. If the client had to bear that dollar for return, the brand image/relationship starts deteriorating. Effectivity implies here too. If not, your customer service should be capable enough to handle those frequent rings.
Though this dig into the supply chain management is not deep enough, this blog covers the prima knowledge to get an understanding. Future aspects of it and scopes are on the way, a promise will be kept. Till then get a jab and maintain that two meters.
*SCM — Supply Chain Management
