The importance of effective supply chain management in achieving organizational objectives.
Supply chain organization refers to the effective management of activities involved in the supply chain. This is done to exploit all the values of the clients and also to maintain good competition in the market. It involves a great effort of business organizations dealing with the supply chain to run and develop supply chain services in the most efficient ways. The activities in the supply chain involve; development of products, production, logistics, and sourcing. They also deal with information technologies that help in facilitating these activities. The Supply chain organization is founded on two basic ideas. This is; a product or item that gets to the final consumer represents a collective effort of several industries. The other idea states that many institutions have only been paying attention to what has been going on in their organizations, while supply chain administration has been in existence for long. This is because the industries had limited knowledge concerning supply chain administration. This led to the unproductive supply chain.
An objective of a firm refers to the sense of purpose, direction, and unity of the firm. These objectives are fundamental in founding the firm’s decisions. The objectives can be addressed via the mission statements. John Stith founded the Coca Cola Company. This was in the year 1886. Candler did the branding of the company. This was done in the year 1889. The company’s famous beverage was manufactured in the year 1916. The core objectives of the company involve being globally known for conducting business ethically and responsibly; the second objective is to hasten its operation to be relevant in the future.
The supply chain has helped the Coca-cola industry to reduce their impacts on the environment. This has also helped in sustaining its supply chain and an increase in its production rate annually.
The link between supply chain management and business functions in an organization.
The supply chain involves several companies for it to be successful. The firms dealing with engineering can be essential in advising the kind of quality, time, and brand needed to deliver spare parts. On the other hand, the experts dealing with the supply chain can also be very instrumental in advising on the availability of the products in the market or the right time to purchase the products. The human resource department is related to the supply chain when it gives support to the team that deals with procurement. This is by training and developing its strategies. The supply chain department, on the other hand, can help the H.R. by giving the training initiatives (Mangan and Lalwani, 2016).
Drivers for achieving an integrated supply chain strategy in an organization.
The integration in supply chain refers to a large range of business strategies that leads to a the closeness of many business organizations to work together. The idea here is to increase the production time, response time and reducing the wastes and the costs of production. Every business organization in the link will always benefit. The drivers involved in the achievement of the supply chain strategies include; inventories, the facilities and the type of information involved in the supply chain. The awareness of the consumers is also the kind of drivers involved. The drivers always motivate the industries to work together so as to achieve customer needs. The challenges that come with these drivers include shutdowns of the firms. The software used for the integration can lead to multiple damages when they are not used accordingly. It can also be time consuming and costly when a firm keeps on changing from one supplier to another.
The effectiveness of strategies used by an organization to maintain supplier relationships.
A firm can engage various strategies that can help it to sustain its relationship with other organizations. The firm can engage in partnership sourcing, this is where a firm joins another firm that deals with the same service or products in purchasing their raw materials from the same vendor. Secondly, the firm can also unite with other firms by supplying their products to customers of the same location or clients with the same buying characteristics. The firm can also begin to reward their suppliers, this will motivate their suppliers and as a result they will be given quality service by the suppliers. This includes the delivery of the raw materials in time and also the right raw materials needed for the production. The firms should also develop a very high sense of trust to both their suppliers and their customers. Unfortunately, some of the suppliers may take advantage of the firm’s trust and decide to deliver goods that are not in good condition or take a lot of time in the delivery of the goods.
The use of information technology in creating strategies to develop an organisation’s relationship with its suppliers.
Information technology software like the A.I. has facilitated the connection between the producers and their consumers. This has been achieved by the big data that is fed in the software. With good software, the procurement experts are able to track their supply performance easily. This is by being able to access if the vendors are operating according to the laid down rules and regulations. The software also enables the firms to pay their suppliers at ones instead of the one by one payment which consumes time and also costly. This also improves transparency and trust in the organization. The software also hastens the faster payment of the vendors and also receipts are produced and as result there is transparency in the deals.
Developing Systems to maintain an organization’s relationship with suppliers.
The organization can decide to come up with doing the audits of the firm. This will help the firm to improve on its financial problems and also it will improve the transparency of the firm. This will attract other firms to work with it and hence maintaining Its relationship with the suppliers. The organization can also decide to come up with monthly meetings within the firm and also with their suppliers. The meetings will help the employees to take about their daily challenges which will always be handled. The meetings will also help the administration to have a good relationship with their employees and hence leading to a smooth running of the activities in the organization. The firm can also give their suppliers their performance appraisal. This will help the suppliers to adjust on their level and quality of their production and their supplies. The firm should also do a frequent visit to their partner, this include their suppliers and their vendors, the frequent visits will increase the bond between the business organizations. Lastly, the firm can also request customers to be giving back feedback or recommend o their social networks. This will attract more customers and will also help the firm to adjust where necessary.
How information technology could assist integration of different parts of the supply chain of an organization.
Information technology has played a very major role in connecting various stakeholders from logistics, shipping and inventory departments. Generally, the realization of the impact of technology has facilitated satisfaction of customer needs, supply chain and good profit margins. I.T. software like Oracle and Alibaba has made it easy to facilitate the smooth flow of services and goods across the world. This is due to the fast movement of information which is easily shared with less effort.
How information technology has contributed to the management of the supply chain of an organization.
Information technology has brought so many benefits to the Coca-cola company. I.T. has led to the improvement of faster customer response. This has helped the company to always react fast according to the needs of the customer. I.T. has also helped the company to do their promotions on social media. This has enabled them to attract a lot of customers and hence improving their rate of production because of the ever-growing demand. I.T. has also improved communication between the company and its partners. This has helped in the smooth running of the supply chain (Mason and Kwak, 2016).
The effectiveness of information technology in managing the supply chain of an organization.
The implementation of information technology has its setbacks. The company might incur a lot of costs when giving its I.T. training. The concepts of information technology are also hard to be understood, and therefore it might consume a lot of time. The software involved might need to be updated time after time, and this might be very costly to the company. The software is installed might not meet the needs of the organization. This can lead to the consumption of time and resources (Mejjaouli and Babiceanu, 2018).
The role of logistics in supply chain management in an organization
Logistics help in aligning the objectives as per the objectives of the firm. They help in satisfying the needs of the customers, both externally and internally. Then always ensure that the client gets quality products. They help in choosing the best mode of transport for goods. The logistics also ensures that there is a continuous flow of the products (Van et al., 2019).
Procurement practices in an organization
The procurement practices involve establishing governing supply chain council in the firm, Aligning the organization of the supply chain. Procurement ensures that technology is working for the company. The procurement officers also establish their relations with the main suppliers of the company. It also ensures that there is a good strategy for sourcing their materials ( Mangan and Lalwani, 2016).
Factors to be considered when improving logistics and procurement practices in an organization.
The factors to be considered for a company to improve its procurement and logistics practices include considering the affordability of the materials to be used, by checking if the kind of improvement is per the objectives of the firm. The culture of the organization should also be considered so as not to alter the company’s belief during the improvement. The competency of the employees should be considered during the improvement. Compatibility must be considered if the company will have to implement some software. The mode of transport in the organization should also be considered before implementing the improvement(Kwak et al., 2018).
A strategy to improve an organization’s supply chain.
The objective of the strategy should be well defined. All the shareholders should be engaged in the practice. The period of improving the supply chain should be defined. The firm should also consider adopting the change of management. The process should be well monitored. The people involved in the program should be well motivated. After that, the strategy should be implemented. The strategies for the improvement include: getting external logistics, integrating with other firms, and partnering with vendors. Finally, the monitoring of the implemented strategies should be done. The firm should also take note of the lessons learned during the implementation(Hugos, 2018).
How a supply chain improvement strategy will benefit overall business performance in an organization.
The improvement of the supply chain will increase the profits of the company; the employees will be motivated to work. This will lead to the production of quality goods in the firm. The improvement can also make the suppliers improve their quality of the supplies (Hong et al., 2019).
How barriers will be overcome in an organization when implementing a supply chain improvement strategy.
The organization should first start by identifying the barriers that may be encountered during the implementation. The barriers can be; some employees are resisting, the period set for the implementation may not be enough; the implementation may be very costly. The governing laws in the nation can also limit the company from implementing some strategies. Therefore to address the barriers, the firm should maintain honest and open communication with all the people involved in the implementation. The cultural dynamic of the strategy should be conducted diligently(Christopher, 2016).
References.
Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Hong, J., Alzaman, C., Diabat, A., and Bulgak, A., 2019. Sustainability dimensions and PM 2.5 in supply chain logistics. Annals of Operations Research, 275(2), pp.339-366.
Hugos, M.H., 2018. Essentials of supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.
Kwak, D.W., Rodrigues, V.S., Mason, R., Pettit, S., and Beresford, A., 2018. Risk interaction identification in international supply chain logistics. International Journal of Operations & Production Management.
Mangan, J., and Lalwani, C., 2016. Global logistics and supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.
Mason, R., and Kwak, D.W., 2016, September. Examining the application to the practice of a theoretical risk management framework in strategic supply chain logistics. In the Annual Logistics Research Network Conference (pp. 1-9).
Mejjaouli, S., and Babiceanu, R.F., 2018. Cold supply chain logistics: System optimization for real-time rerouting transportation solutions. Computers in Industry, 95, pp.68-80.
Van Goor, A.R., van Amstel, W.P. and van Amstel, M.P., 2019. European distribution and supply chain logistics. Routledge.