Decision Phases in Supply Chain

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.

Westminster Company is a giant Global manufacturer of health products whose brand has been recognized by the world. As the company they have three different operations which produce and distribute different product lines. Their main strategy on which they are working and which is a major success for them is decentralized management. Now they are re-evaluating their traditional supply chain strategy because the company is getting too much pressure from their large domestic’s customers and global customers. Now the company has to study on

This report looks at the fundamental generic building blocks of competitive advantage and talks in detail about one of the major factors, which is superior efficiency. The report identifies what superior efficiency is and how it could benefit an organization in generating competitive advantage. Finally the report will evaluate the methods in which the company could achieve superior efficiency.

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Volume 7, Number 5, 2002, pp. 271 – 282;

This included the TMS system, and using NTE OMS as its core service. Target therefore linked all of its trading partners into a centralized confidential trading community for automated transactions, timely communications and status reports, and efficient transportation management. Many of Target vendors submit ready to ship freight information at the individual order level electronically to Target. It can then more easily and efficiently merge and optimize shipments into its regional distribution centers. The private community was launched in January 2002.

The Customer relationship, Order fulfillment, and Supplier relationship processes need to be analyzed from the perspective of process structure, process improvement, layout, and capacity.

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.

A Customized Textbook, Supply Chain Management SCHM2301, ISBN9781308037400 Copies are on reserve in the library

It identifies diverse procedures that lead to client contentment. It is used to depict development opportunities and is based on process modeling, performance measures, and best practice sharing. It helps the companies measure the flow of information and physical goods and consists of three levels, the scope and content of the supply chain ( level 1), the supply chain strategy is configured ( level 2) and aligning available and forecasted resources to meet expected demand (level 3).

Increased the effectiveness and reduced the costs of doing business through continuous business process improvements in both its internal and external supply chains.

In a typical supply chain, raw materials are procured and items are produced at one

When dealing with closed loop supply chains, complexity increases, management information systems may have to be restructured, and uncertainty may also build up. “Several sources of uncertainty were identified such as demand, availability of raw materials, prices, promotion of new products and for the closed-loop supply chains uncertainty in the amount of non-conformance products or on the level of returnable end of life products”.(Cardoso,Science direct). Demand levels and other

Stages of the product supply chain or network design, location of raw material in relation to the manufacturer, distributor, retailer and consumer, etc.

PROBLEMS OF SUPPLY CHAIN: Uncertainty in demand forecast is a major concern in the supply chain and this is because a lot of unpredictable factors influence demand of supply chain. Some of these factors include competition, prices, weather conditions technology development and customer’s general confidence. Poor customer service is a problem faced by the supply chain and this hinders business and people from getting products or services when needed. (Turban M.U, n.d.) The supply chain also faces problems of high inventory cost, loss of revenue and more. One nagging problem of the supply chain related to uncertainly is bullwhip effect.

It has been two decades since the internal operations are consistently streamlined, manufacturing support up, quality of the products are generally enhanced, the expenses of assembling are consistently decreased yet now the organizations are presently concentrating on the reducing of logistics by mean of putting right supply chain methodologies for the excellence of organizations (Mangaladurai & Nemati, 2013). According Mangaladurai and Nemati European companies are spending between 5% to the highest ratio of 15% of the total budget of the company. In the United States, companies have used more than $ 670 billion on the supply chain related activities during the year 1993 which was the 10.5% of the aggregate GDP.