Case Study : Supply Chain Management

Lead time involves the manufacturing, timing, supply of raw materials, distribution and sales. Lead time gives an accurate depiction of the overall strength of the supply chain and is an excellent metric in determining the effectiveness of planning and execution of supply chain goals and initiatives.

A supply chain is very important to an organization. It can and should show the relationship between suppliers, distributors, managers and consumers. This paper would detail how important suppliers and distributions are to an organization’s success. And how important a supply chain is within an organization and how managers can utilize the supply chain. It is important that companies such as Target Corporations utilize the supply chain and gain competitive advantages. Target is one of the world’s largest retail stores; the first Target was opened in 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota (Target.com). By the end of 1962 there were only four Target and they were all operated in Minnesota.

The supply chain management is considered as a management concept from past two decades as the customers are concerned about timely and safe delivery. The competitiveness has been increasing among the companies to deliver the products as quickly as possible to the customers all around the world. This has made the supply chain management as a vital tool for the management. This is also measured as a competitive parameter for the companies.

For instance (ceteris paribus), if the transportation of the HP products were air shipped, and the lead time passed from four and a half weeks to three days, logically stock levels would decrease. The same would happen if we reduce the time between orders or the level of satisfaction that we want to assurance to our customers.

Supply chain management is a practice that involves the planning, supervision, and implementation of strategies and controls to direct the movement of goods and services provided to customers. The intent of this essay is to incorporate a synopsis of existing literature and to provide the reader with a general understanding of how supply chain management correlates with the organizational design and structure of modern firms. The essay comprehensively reviews the components of supply chain management and their integration with functional areas within an organization. The information presented in this essay

The ability how to manage inventory effectively depends critically on uncertainty, supply lead times, and product life cycles. Long supply lead times and short product lifecycles characterize fashion goods.

The challenges that organizations face in supply chain integration is the ability to successfully coordinate activities across the supply chain so that they can improve performance in the areas of increase service level, reduce cost, better utilize resources, reduce bullwhip effect, and effectively respond to changes in the marketplace. According to Levi (2008),

Improvements in transportation process and technology enablement make available the most achievable way for most companies today to flush out supply chain costs and advance quality, reliability and customer satisfaction. Companies across nearly every industry sector are motivated to become supply chain management leaders. SCM leaders attain this rank in their markets by extensively dropping cycle times and operating expenses, increasing supply chain

Supply chain Consists of all parties involved involved directly or indirectly, in order to satisfy customer needs. Supply chain includes manufacturer, supplier, transporter ,Warehouses, retailers and customer.

As I have completed a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical engineering and worked as a supervisor in an Industry which generally deals in manufacturing of rice mills and flour mills, I really had to struggle against managing supply chain as it was very difficult for me without proper knowledge of Supply chain management in dealing with purchasing of raw material from suppliers and giving product to clients. I could not understand what clients were demanding and how to fulfill their demands. First of all a big thanks to CQ University providing its students to get knowledge on all important topics which are helpful in their future career and I am one of them.

Supply chain management is currently an important aspect in Management Information System. So much technology and brainpower have been used to improve the performance. In this decade electronic data interchange has made the process flexible, automatic warehousing and rapid logistics. Every organizations are trying to make their supply chain management more accurate using quick response, efficient customer response, mass customization, lean and agile manufacturing. (Fisher, 1997)

The importance of the supply chain hasn’t always been so critical. It wasn’t until the railroad industry in the early 20th century that we first started to see real focus given to the supply chain. World War II put an even greater focus on the importance of a good supply chain and that emphasis was felt on a global scale. In the 1970s the oil embargo and shortages of other raw materials brought the attention of purchasing and supply management to a new level, once again. As more companies began competing on a global scale, innovative strategies arose. In the 1980s

Supply chain management is an integral component of operation management and has a direct effect on how successfully organizations function. The purpose of supply chain management is to remove communication barriers and eliminate redundancies by coordinating, monitoring, and controlling processes within an organization. Identifying the components of the supply chain, facilitating better decision-making, creating improved communication, and identifying weak links in the chain causing bottlenecks in an organization are crucial to supply chain integration. There are three principle elements of supply chain integration: management of information and financial flows, inventory management, and management of relationships of

According to Larson and Halldorsson (2004) “unionist” perspective, supply chain management incorporates logistics as a key supply chain focused function. The Council of Supply Chain management professionals (CSCMP) defined logistics management as ‘‘that part of supply chain management that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverses flow and storage of goods, services and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet

With the rapid increase of operation cost and fast development of E-commence in today’s retail industry, traditional operation management models are antiquated. Companies attempt to enhance competitive capacity through management innovation, and an increasing amount of attention is paid to their supply chain management for the purpose of cost reduction, risk minimization and better customer satisfaction. Modern techniques like vendor partnership, operational innovations and information technology are adopted by retailers in order to manage their supply chain properly.