Climb on these 5 steps to optimize Supply Chain management

• Priyadharshini K
• 04-Sep-2017 06:10:27

Climb on these 5 steps to optimize Supply Chain management

It has become a great challenge for the enterprises in maintaining the supply chain data recent times to cope up with the growing structured and unstructured data. The supply chain data of many enterprises seems to be a complex system to handle the processes, people and technologies.

The growth of global markets, increasing customer expectations and more intense & diverse competitive pressures are driving the development of new supply chain methodologies and strategies. This increasing complexity need to re-evaluate frequently to ensure the optimal operation of manufacturing and distribution. 

Even though, there are number of tools available to meet the complexity and to optimize the supply chain, in this article, we present the five important steps to optimize the supply chain.

Think globally but act locally
It is an important point to consider while thinking strategically about supply chain or value chain planning. A clear and concise supply chain must be fully aligned with the business strategy, to meet the complex and competing business goals such as minimizing capital, improving operating margins and enhancing the customer experience. However, during the execution of the supply chain it is important to optimize locally to maximize the investments in critical resources: infrastructure, assets and technology.

Focus on Core Strengths 
Focusing on organization’s core competencies will helps to grow your business. A variety of modeling tools are available today and choosing the right system begins by understanding the core strengths of the environment in which you work and how often you need to change your supply chain. This sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate impacts on how a company is working to improve the parameters it uses to drive a better supply chain system.

Improve Collaboration
Improve collaboration between Manufacturer/Supplier and Retailer for Demand Data Driven Forecasting and Inventory Management. This will help the organization to reduce the inventory levels, improve fulfillment rates, product availability and visibility. Today technology provides wide range of opportunities to collaborate and there also exists a proliferation of data should be refined to optimize the supply chain process.

Utilize Mobile-Based Technology
This technology paves a way and drives the companies directly to get connected with the customer. It improves the sales, marketing and enables direct and quick services to the customers. Providing information about the item contents, provenance, manufacturing methodology enhances the brand in the market and brings the customer attention.
Build a responsive supply chain
Use the data sources such as MIS dashboards, POS sales as well as social media information to identify trends and demand changes frequently and much earlier. This in turn enables your supply chain to respond much faster to increase the sales, to improve the service levels and to maximize the benefits.

A world class supply chain system is essential for a consistent flow of the product from the manufacturing sector to the end user. A well designed supply chain network significantly improves margin, market expansions, enhance the customer experience, and reduce operating costs.