Archive for the ‘SCM’ Category:
Outsourcing of Supply Chain
When companies analyze and examine their core competencies, they realize that outsourcing parts or all of a supply chain can be advantageous. With marketplace improvements around information systems, cost and quality of global manufacturing and product design capabilities, companies are gaining advantage by outsourcing their supply chain.
There can be significant economic benefits from outsourcing of your supply chain operation. However, the absence of a right system, process or organizational management structure can cause risk to success. In an outsourcing environment, companies need to put more controls and systems in place to compensate for the fact that the supply chain capabilities no longer reside onsite. In an outsourced supply chain environment, the need for information controls and excellence becomes more important.
Read my previous post titled “The Evolution of Supply Chain Management” to get an idea about the evolution of supply chain management.
Subscribe to the comments for this postDemand Planning in Supply Chain Management
As sources and capacities for manufacturing have increased, more companies have moved away from focusing efforts on manufacturing. They are now adopting a demand-driven focus of trying to influence and manage demand more efficiently. The demand-driven approach can help a company create a more customer-focused mindset without sacrificing operational efficiency.
From my personal experience, I can say that a demand-focused approach to planning can significantly improve demand planning and management efforts and help overall costs and customer service efforts. Your supply chain will function more effectively if you implement advanced demand planning systems and proper strategies. They can also help you uncover data and identify trends buried in your organization’s information system.
Read our earlier post titled “Growth of Supply Chain Management Market” to know more about supply chain management market.
e-Supply Chain Management
As enterprises go about implementing new applications to their processes, there is one area where most of the early actions take place. This is the supply chain. A Web-enabled supply chain management solution is the core of the entire business. This is also referred as e-Supply Chain Management. You will be surprised to know that an effective e-SCM solution can save companies millions of dollars in costs.
e-SCM is the optimal combination of technology and business processes that optimizes delivery of goods, services and information from the supplier to the consumer in an organized and efficient way. It also helps the companies in developing, manufacturing, distributing and retailing of products. In my opinion, e-SCM is the most efficient way to implement their plans.
To know more about supply chain management, read our previous post titled “Supply Chain Management Challenges”.
What Is a Supply Chain?
A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials. It also transforms these materials into intermediate and finished products. The distribution of these finished products to customers is also managed by supply chain. Supply chain exists in both service and manufacturing organizations. The complexity of supply chain may vary from industry to industry and company to company.
In a supply chain, raw material is procured from vendors and is transformed into finished goods in a single step. It is then transported to distribution centers and then to customers. Realistic supply chains have multiple end products with shared components, facilities and capacities.
On Demand Supply Chain Management Cuts Costs
You must have heard about on-demand supply chain management. Do you know what type benefits can it provide to your organization? On-demand supply chain management solutions are more are effective at reducing procurement costs than traditional license solutions. It also increases cost reduction capabilities substantially. On-demand supply chain management solutions are more efficient and reliable than the traditional supply chain management solutions. Unlike traditional supply chain management solutions, on-demand supply chain management solutions involve economical IT procurement.
How Globalization Changes Supply Chain Management?
The business landscape is rapidly becoming more global. It has been attributed to the improvements in communications. Globalization is having a great impact on the business management and transaction. It has been noticed that supply chain in a business is more affected by the globalization trend. Manufacturing, distribution, sourcing of materials, invoicing and returns have been impacted by the increased integration of a global customer and supplier base.
The right supply chain design is critical to managing the changes brought about by globalization. A well-planned supply chain network design can optimize the supply chain network and flow of materials through the network. In the entire process, network design captures the costs of the supply chain applies technology to find out solutions to strategic and tactical issues.
Supply Chain Solutions for Food Industry
Leading supply chain solutions provider, Manhattan Associates Inc. is offering its integrated planning solutions for food suppliers. It is important to note that Manhattan Associates is the first single solution provider to offer total supply chain management. Manhattan Associates also increases the ability of food and grocery wholesalers and retailers to tighten their supply chain processes and extend visibility from demand to consumption. It effectively minimizes inventory levels and ensures the delivery of fresh goods to customers.
Manhattan Associates also continues to enhance its Integrated Logistics Solutions for Food. One of its recent updates included its transportation solution, Fleet Management, which provides visibility of en-route assets and helps eliminate empty kilometers by optimizing planned and opportunistic backhauls and tandem loads.
Supply Chain Management Challenges
According to a recent survey conducted by Archstone Consulting, companies across industry sectors face supply chain management challenges. About 90 percent multinational companies admitted that they have issues with their supplier relationship management. The survey revealed that about 50 percent respondents reported inefficient and inconsistent approaches to supply chain management.
They are forced to take the help of too many vendor managers due to poorly allocated supply management resources. The research shows that many companies have conducted strategic sourcing and outsourcing to reduce costs. However, only few of them have mastered SRM to enhance and reduce overall costs.
IBS SCM Systems Support Industry Standards
IBS Australia has committed itself to implement efficient and excellent solutions in distribution and supply chain management. It is holding Impetus 2006, the GSI annual event on international standards and best practices in supply chain management. IBS Australia is an associate alliance partner of GSI Australia, which is a non-profit organization.
GSI Australia administers the global multi-industry system of identification and communication for products, services and locations. IBS Australia will demonstrate how its supply chain solutions help Australian businesses become more efficient by adopting internationally accepted trading standards. It will also adopt the world’s best supply chain management techniques.
IBS delivers industry-specific software, services and hardware offerings that help integrate the entire supply chain. IBS software is designed to facilitate businesses in successfully implementing their key business objectives by keeping them up to date with international standards and industry requirements.
Supply Chain Management Software for Drug Manufacturers
The worldwide market for supply chain management (SCM) software is expected to grow 8.6 percent a year to reach over $8.3 million in 2010. The SCM market is driven by the need to streamline supply chain processes and improve productivity. According to a new report, Supply Chain Execution programs in the applications such as collaborative production management, warehouse management and transport management will be responsible for fuelling much of the growth. Supply chain execution requires good management. SCE software is designed to achieve the objective of managing the complete order to cash business process, capturing demand and providing inbound and outbound transportation management.
Within this SCE segment, growth will be higher among the manufacturing applications than for logistics applications, said the report, titled “Supply Chain Management Worldwide Outlook: Market Analysis and Forecast through 2010″.