Wispeco's Supply Chain Strategy

Effective supply chain management can be described as the efficient utilization of methods and processes that integrate manufacturers, suppliers, and distribution channels in a way that delivers product and/or services at the right time, in the right quantities, and at the needed location to minimize costs and maximize profit and customer satisfaction (Simchi-Levi, Kaminsky, & Simchi-Levi, 2005).

Supplier chain strategies are one of the most important aspects of supply chain management. The key to success of an organization is the supply chain strategy. The supply chain makes up 55-85% to total costs for a business, so it is understandable why so many people are searching for newer and better strategies. (Bruce O. Bartschenfeld)

Supply chain management is the process that an organization uses to "improve the way the company finds the raw components it needs to make a product or service and deliver it to customers (www.supply-chain.org 2006)." There are five basics components of a supply chain management system-plan, source, make, deliver, and return. Planning is the "strategy for managing all the resources that go toward meeting customer demand for the product or service (www.supply-chain.org 2006)." The source components are "the suppliers that will deliver the goods and services the organization needs to create the product or service (www.supply-chain.org 2006)." Make applies to manufacturing the product or the activities necessary to provide the

Managing a supply chain implies the integrated management of a network of entities, that begins with the suppliers' suppliers and ends with the customers' customers, for the production of products and services to the end consumers. Supply chain case studies analyze how companies seek to achieve cost reductions or profit improvements and make the supply chain more competitive as whole.

Understanding supply chain perspectives was a bit more complicated for me. After reviewing the material, I realized that companies need to find ways to differentiate from other companies. Supply chain strategies help companies make their products more desirable by consumers. Once again I concluded that customer satisfaction is the most important KPI in an organization. Just like marketing strategies, supply chain strategies also target customers. They are a chain of dependent activities that, if used consistently, collaborate to target the highest levels of customer service at a lower cost.

The ultimate goal of supply chain management is to achieve a higher-quality or lower-cost product at the end of the chain. This requires building long-term relationships with a small number of very capable suppliers, who in turn have their own relationships with suppliers.

that takes place within and between different stages .  There are 2 different ways to view the processes performed in a supply chain

Today’s business has become more competitive and requires cost effective solution to give a better quality product to the customer. The productivity advantage of supply chain management gives a winning edge to the suppliers. More production has been possible in recent times dues to better management of

Dan Gilmore in his article defined supply chain strategy as “A supply chain strategy involves adding a new rudder, with a captain and a crew that know exactly how to get to their destination, but with a plan that has some resiliency built-in for the inevitable storms the ship will encounter along the way”. Dan Gilmore (2)

Decisions about the structure of the supply chain and what processes each stage will perform Strategic supply chain decisions

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the integration of information, technologies and management of key business functions which is linked directly or indirectly and provides services to the same customer. It promotes the flow of products downstream from raw materials to the end consumer and the flow of information upstream from consumer to supplier [1].

A supply chain strategy is frequently miss-understood with supply chain management, where supply chain actions are controlled to decrease costs, but with supply chain strategy it defines how the supply chain should function in order to compete. Supply chain strategy is an iterative method that evaluates the cost benefit trade-offs of prepared components. A well accomplished supply chain strategy results in value creation for the business.

The Company strives to become the leading organization in the industry by establishing an adaptive supply network which excels in speed, innovation, agility and connectivity. This could not happen without the support and commitment of its product suppliers. Thus this is essential for them to share the same values and principles so as to drive the success of the supply chain as a whole.

For some countries like Vietnam, the definition of supply chain management is still not that well-known enough to apply. Some administrators have just been familiar with the term “logistics” and applied them for all the goods flows. However, supply chain system includes product development, manufacturing, purchasing, inventory, goods distribution and logistics activities. In other words, logistics is just a component of the supply chain. Ganeshan and Harrison (1995) defined that a process from purchasing raw materials, converting them to finished goods and distributing them customers. It is used in both service and manufacturing organizations. For example, a customer goes to Citymart to buy G7 3-in-1 coffee. The supply chain will start from the demand of this customer. Since Citymart has stored a certain amount of this type of coffee to supply, which may be provided from another merchant or directly from

Wispeco is the Manufacturing company that manufacturer of Aluminium Extruders Servicing various industries the transport industry is one of Wispeco focus area, where aluminium is used for various applications in truck, bus and trains bodies .Due to its light weight and strength it has several advantage for use in the transport industry .Wispeco extruded the window and door extrusion of the Gautrain train coach unit. It also specialised engineering profiles which include cooling fins, electrical bus bar, ladder, scaffolding, irrigation equipment, sport and camping equipment, tile edges and carpet trim, safety security doors, curtain tracks signage section, conveys system section. An extensive range of standard engineering profile such as round tubes, round bars, flat bars angels and t section are available. Wispeco Aluminium has a highly customer focused sales team serving the market from factories based in Gauteng and Western Cape. Wispeco Aluminium strives to offer quality product, excellence service technical support and to be responsive to any customer queries. There are ranges of alternative domestic supplier of extrusions such as Lafarge, Profile, Star Aluminium, as well as imports which are viable .These alternatives render any likely strategy of input foreclosure unlikely or unviable as Wispeco Aluminium would not gain any significant market if it engaged in such strategy.