Supply Chain Management Essay

The main elements of a supply chain include purchasing, operations, distribution, and integration. The supply chain begins with purchasing. Purchasing managers or buyers are typically responsible for determining which products their company will sell, sourcing product suppliers and vendors, and procuring products from vendors at prices and terms that meets profitability goals.

Supply chains manage the movement of products from the acquisition of raw materials through production and finally distribution to the end user. A properly designed supply chain can create many opportunities to drive down cost and increase revenue opportunities. In order to create a supply chain that is sustainable and flexible it is necessary to identify and align company goals and initiatives with the manufacturing and distribution of products.

Dual sourcing is used very often as quality control problems, giving the buyer additional power to product attributes that are difficult to specify in a contract. In addition, dual sourcing is used less often for systems procured under multiyear contracts, suggesting that competition and contractual completeness may be

Mellat-Parast and Spillan (2014) defines supply chain management as the method of handling material and information moves from the beginning, through the organization, and to the end-user. This is a very important factor of organizational strategy.

And all breakable products are packaged in a way they cannot be broken (Riley, 2012).

Through e-Procurement system we can improve redundancies in the business process and operations, gain in productivity by upgrading procurement processes. Cost savings by reducing processing time, rationalization of a large number of BAL suppliers and maintaining relationship with Key Suppliers.

Effective supply chain management can provide an important competitive advantage for a business marketer, resulting in improved communication and involvement among members of the chain, increased motivation, and decreased costs. Tracking the movement of and demand for components used to manufacture a product across a variety of potential and actual suppliers, provides insight and the ability to respond instantly to shortages, surpluses, and changes in market conditions. It seeks to optimize production, decrease manufacturing time, minimize inventory, streamline order fulfillment, and reduce cost.

Many companies produce products from parts of raw materials that are purchased from suppliers, till these products are reach the markets and presented for the customers, then you have the supply chain starting from the purchase of raw material from different areas , through the manufacturing steps and stages till is being sold by the consumer. Some of supply chains are well defined and easy to determined, while there are other supply chains complex to analyze. However, supply chains vary with the size of the facility such as; complexities, performance, abilities, flexibility, quality, speed, dependability and cost of preparing goods for manufacturing and the chain length distribution. So the supply chain is a network of wholesalers, retailers, distributors, workers in the transport, storage facilities, suppliers, and manufacturers who participate in the production, delivery and sale of the product to the last consumer. A supply chain is a group of facilities that coordinate activities among it and to avoid the competitors. Moreover, to ensure the supply chain management is operating efficiently and generating the highest level of customer

The supply chain is a system made amongst different companies producing and distributing the product. Specifically, the supply chain contains the steps it takes to deliver goods or services from the supplier to the customer.

Supply chains represent the procurement, production and distribution activities of an organisation. Within a supply chain, these activities are viewed as linked and reliant on one another to produce the final outcome. It is believed that if one component of the chain fails, the whole chain is broken and product/service delivery goals will not be achieved.

Price is an important factor, but it should not be considered the most important factor by any stretch of the imagination. In some cases there should be a frank discussion about goals; it could be about the price of the product, delivery performance or even inventory. Whatever that specific goal or equation is it’s about taking that total cost down and as long as the principal enterprise and its supplier(s) are aligned and have the same goals about being the most productive in that arena then a frank discussion about price is okay. However, when cost is not the issue the principal and supplier relationship is about what reciprocal value is brought to one another and how that can be transformed into a benefit to their respective customers. Many firms are beginning to take a strategic and holistic view of sourcing as it pertains to common items or components like: rope, soap, and dope, nuts and bolts where cost is everything and the quality differential is not that big a deal then price is the main thing. Conversely, where there are complex components and services and specialty solutions there are and should be huge cost

4. In a service supply chain, the (explicit) cost of information is higher than in a product

Supply chain: Supply chain encompasses all activities associated with the flow and transformation of goods from the raw materials stage (extraction) through to the end user all well as the associated information flows. Material and

EXISTING PROBLEMS AND WEAKNESSES IN THE CURRENT PROCESSES AND ADDITIONAL CAPABILITIES NEEDED TO BE DEVELOPED:

A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources, materials and components into a finished product that is delivered to the end customer. In sophisticated supply chain systems, used products may re-enter the supply chain at any point where residual value is recyclable.