Sustainability is an important aspect of business in modern society where environmental pollution, economics, efficiency, effectiveness, and conservation of energy are issues of concern. As a distribution network that organizations rely on distributing their diverse products, the supply chain has a significant impact on the environment. In this view, the supply chain should be sustainable for it to serve varied organizations optimally and experience growth in the competitive markets. Sustainability is beneficial to the supply chain because it reduces costs, decreases wastage, improves efficiency, saves energy, and enhances competitive advantage. Governments and customers also increase pressure on the supply chain to adopt strategies that are sustainable to protect not only the environment but also encourage prudent use of available resources. Recycle, reuse, reduce, and recover are the four principles, which promote sustainability of operations in the supply chain. In essence, the sustainability of the supply chain is central to improving Continue reading
Supply Chain Management
Reverse Logistics Process Formalization
Reverse logistics is the process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient, cost-effective flow of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods and related information from the point of consumption to the point of origin for the purpose of recapturing or creating value or for proper disposal. Despite the growing recognition of the importance of reverse logistics, many companies are not ready to meet the challenges involved in handling returns. The rapid growth in the volume of returns far outpaces the abilities of firms to successfully manage the returns. Because of all the uncertainties involved, reverse logistics program development and implementation becomes very complex. The major challenges involve the considerable number of unknowns that have to be accounted for in developing reverse logistics programs. The process of measuring and analyzing returns-related performance criteria is aimed at improving reverse logistics quality and identifying potential problem areas. The following metrics were identified by Continue reading
Components of Supply Chain
A supply chain is a network of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, transporters, storage facilities and retailers that perform functions like procurement and acquisition of material, processing and transformation of the material into intermediate and finished tangible goods, and finally, the physical distribution of the finished goods to intermediate or final customers. Major Components of Supply Chain A supply chain may consist of variety of components depending on the business model selected by a firm. A typical supply chain consists of the following components: Customers: The customer forms the focus of any supply chain. A customer activates the processes in a supply chain by placing an order with the retailer. The customer order is filled by the retailer, either form the existing inventories, or by placing a fresh order with the wholesaler/manufacturer. In some cases a customer bypasses all these supply chain components by getting in touch with the manufacturers directly. For Continue reading
Supply Chain Performance Measurement
The main objective of performance measurement is to provide valuable information which allows firms to improve the fulfillment of customers’ requirements and to meet firm’s strategic goals. It is therefore important to measure how effectively the customers’ requirements are met and how resources are efficiently used to reach a certain level of customer satisfaction. Supply chain performance measurement is used to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of organizational structures, processes and resources not only for one firm but also for the entire supply chain. It provides some basis for understanding the whole system, influence the behavior and supply information about the performance of the supply chain participants and stakeholders. Developing and using performance measures is an essential function of management. The usage of performance measurement systems also supports the objectives of transparency and a mutual understanding of the whole supply chain. Supply Chain Controlling One of the main tasks of Continue reading
Value Added Roles of Warehouses
Nowadays, the warehousing is playing a very important role in the supply chain management. Due to the strong competitive market nowadays, the function of warehouse is requiring to extend to a wide range. The warehousing not only provides the function of holding or storage the goods but it also provides the value-added services to improve the performance of the supply chain. The value-added services provided by warehouses are including; Buffer: The warehousing is holding the goods for the downstream stages of supply chain. It is to balance the difference goods schedules and aim to deal the efficiency in the distribution process and achieve the economic of scale. Consolidation center: The warehouse is used for accumulates and consolidates the goods from the different manufacturer or company for combined the goods into a same shipment to the customers. The consolidation can reduce the expenditure of transportation operations because it can reduce the Continue reading
Importance of Customer Service in Supply Chain Management
Supply chain is basically considered as a strategic concept that involves understanding and managing the sequence of activities -from supplier to customer-that add value to the product supply pipeline. The role of customer service in the supply chain management is not incidental. Every company in this chain, irrespective of market size mainly they thankful to its customers as the fact is that in all profit of firm there are customers are in center whom to buy the goods and services produced by each one of them. This century marks the end of monopolies and therefore customers can make an array of choices. When customers decide not to buy products in a particular supply chain, then no doubt the company would collapse without earning any revenue for the expenses incurred in launching the product on the stage of saturation and decline stage. So, the supply chain should be structured in such Continue reading