E-Supply Chain Problems and Solutions

Supply chain management is a complex process. There are several issues that can lead to the bullwhip effect and those issues can be exacerbated by delays in transmitting information, and a lack of coordination up and down the supply chain. Some causes of the bullwhip effect include:

The ordering process begins with the decision of the customer to submit their order simply by either calling, faxing or mailing their order information. When a customer calls in their order, the customer service representatives takes down pertinent customer information, which includes the customer's name, billing and shipping address, product number and description, quantity and shipping instructions. While taking down the order, the customer service representative access the company's order entry system where inventory checks are conducted as well as credit checks are processed. In addition, delivery options are advised to the customer. Here the customer decides

7. Why can changes within a supply chain disrupt the normal flow of goods and services within a supply chain?

Reduced need for higher capacity at the supplier. This would be reduced because suppliers would not need to size their operations to deliver on the “one shot large volume order” and would be able to space these in time with orders at

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 chains must be managed to coordinate the inputs with the outputs in a firm to achieve the appropriate competitive priorities of the firm’s enterprise processes. The Internet offers firms an alternative to traditional methods for managing supply chains. A supply chain strategy is essential

Fulfilling a perfect order depends on the journey through the supply chain, it is filled with

1. Faster delivery times due to decrease in lead time causing an increase in reliability

Following considerable investment in new warehouse and carrier management systems the number and quality of delivery options had increased. Now delivery options include: same day, next day or standard delivery options that normally takes around 2-3 days. Also customers can set delivery date by themselves and if wanted can be notified via email or text alerts of delivery status. In addition 85% if orders are tractable

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.

The Order to Delivery (OTD) process as envisioned by the Ford 2000 initiative is intended to reduce the production time to 15 days. This is hindered by bottlenecks throughout the Ford supply chain. Ford desires to be able to forecast customer demand from dealers and keep at least 15 days of vehicles in each assembly plant’s order bank. Ford would also like to utilize mixing centers to optimize scheduling and delivery. Finally, there is a need for an order amendment process for minor customizations during the production process.

E-business uses the digital technology to optimize the business activities of organization in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of operation and gain competitive advantages. E-business provides the solution that allows the organization to instantly share database, information of products and services, financial figures and data and nearly anything else that the organization may need to operate the business activities effectively and efficiently (Nguyen, 2013). E-commerce which is the abbreviation of electronic commerce is the subset of e-business. It focuses on the online transaction which includes selling of products or service by using computer network, primarily the Internet.

Excellent customer service is a way to set the organization apart from its competitors. Differentiation can be achieved through fast and correct execution of product ordering. To improve on the order process it is important to have the correct information provided in a timely fashion to all divisions. For integration to be successful information must be available throughout the entire supply chain.

A common way of decreasing the amount of inventory a business holds on a daily basis is implementing a just-in-time inventory process. A Just-In-Time inventory system means that the business gets the materials for a product, as they are demanded. “The electronic data

According to (Hill and Hill, 2012), synchronising all supply chain activities through using the same data, and completing production at the scheduled time, coordinated between the manufacturer and suppliers,