Supply Chain Management - Woolworths and Nike
Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a systematic integration of suppliers, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), distributors and customers in order to produce and distribute the right quantities, to the right time, and at the cheaper cost, while satisfying the entire supply chain partners (Balsubramanium & Roosebelt). In simple words, it is a process of moving goods from manufacturers to a consumer. Today successful companies, uses softwares or web based application service provider (ASPs) to provide them a better supply chain solutions. Technology has been the life and blood in all the fields since many years but in supply chain, it is playing an extraordinary role. Not only by cutting the cost, enhancing efficiency and optimizing the entire supply chain network, Technology is also playing its role in satisfying the customer demand and thereby maximizing the revenues for the company.
A key barrier to full supply chain management was the cost of communicating with and organizing among the various independent suppliers in each supply chain (Fredendall & Hill 2001). Another barrier to successfully managing a supply chain is possibly the issues of lack of trust and communication. When there is a lack of trust and communication the members within the organisation will feel suspicious which results in delays and inefficiency within the organisation. When the communication is insufficient between the levels of organisations, the supply chain will not improve its response enough to increase profits which results in loosing competitive advantage. But the art of technology has changed these barriers into opportunity by inventing tools (softwares) like Just-in-Time (JIT), Materials Requirement Planning (MRP), Materials logistic Management (MLM), Total Quality Management (TQM), Agile Manufacturing, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Time Based Competition (TBC), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and many more. These software
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a systematic integration of suppliers, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), distributors and customers in order to produce and distribute the right quantities, to the right time, and at the cheaper cost, while satisfying the entire supply chain partners (Balsubramanium & Roosebelt). In simple words, it is a process of moving goods from manufacturers to a consumer. Today successful companies, uses softwares or web based application service provider (ASPs) to provide them a better supply chain solutions. Technology has been the life and blood in all the fields since many years but in supply chain, it is playing an extraordinary role. Not only by cutting the cost, enhancing efficiency and optimizing the entire supply chain network, Technology is also playing its role in satisfying the customer demand and thereby maximizing the revenues for the company.
A key barrier to full supply chain management was the cost of communicating with and organizing among the various independent suppliers in each supply chain (Fredendall & Hill 2001). Another barrier to successfully managing a supply chain is possibly the issues of lack of trust and communication. When there is a lack of trust and communication the members within the organisation will feel suspicious which results in delays and inefficiency within the organisation. When the communication is insufficient between the levels of organisations, the supply chain will not improve its response enough to increase profits which results in loosing competitive advantage. But the art of technology has changed these barriers into opportunity by inventing tools (softwares) like Just-in-Time (JIT), Materials Requirement Planning (MRP), Materials logistic Management (MLM), Total Quality Management (TQM), Agile Manufacturing, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Time Based Competition (TBC), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and many more. These software
References: Fredendall, L. & Hill, E. 2001, ‘Basics of Supply Chain Management’, CRC Press LLC, Florida. Rossi, S. 2007, ‘Woolworths awards suppliers in supply chain project’, no. 1, pg 5, EBCOhost, AN 24056925, viewed 18 October 2009.