Supply Chain Management

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION3

ELEMENTS OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN3

Consumer4

Planning4

Purchasing4

Inventory4

Production5

Transportation5

DISCUSSION5

Establish a Governing Supply Chain Council6

Properly Align and Staff the Supply Chain Organization7

Make Technology Work for the Organization7

Establish Alliances with Key Suppliers.8

Engage in Collaborative Strategic Sourcing9

Focus on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), rather than price9

Put Contracts under the Supply Chain Function10

CONCLUSION11

REFERENCES12

Supply Chain Management

Introduction

The supply chain management is a stretched focus of management which takes into consideration the joint impression of all the organizations that are implicated in the manufacture of product and services, from the sellers to the producers to the wholesalers to the merchants to the ultimate customers and even ahead for dumping and salvaging. This method of managing the manufacture and logistics systems considers that all the organizations associated to the procedure of distributing the products to the customers are a component of the network, supply chain or pipeline. It includes all the requirements for the satisfaction of the consumers and also takes in the determination of the products which they would likely purchase, how to manufacture such products and the best possible way to distribute them.

The idea of supply chain guarantees that the consumers take delivery of the appropriate products at the appropriate time, at a reasonable rate and at the preferred location. In case of an organization that manufactures products from the elements obtained from the suppliers and then those goods are vended to the consumers, then it does have a supply chain. Certain supply chains are uncomplicated whereas the others are relatively intricate. The intricacy of the supply chain fluctuates according to the extent and complexity of the business and the numeral of products that it manufactures.

Elements of the Supply Chain

A supply chain is composed of a number of elements that are connected by the passage of the products through it; the supply chain begins with the consumer and ends on the consumer as well.

Consumer

The consumer begins the chain of proceedings by deciding to buy a product form all the various products that the organization offers for sale. The consumer approaches the organization's sale department that makes an entry for the sales order for a particular product to be distributed on a particular date. In case, the desired product has to be produced, the sales order would encompass a constraint which needs to be met by the manufacture facility.

Planning

The requirement which the sales order of the consumer triggers would be pooled with the rest of the orders. The scheduling department would then form a manufacture scheme to manufacture the products so as to discharge the orders of the customers. The organization would next have to buy the raw material required to manufacture the products.

Purchasing

The buying department is handed over a list of all the required services and raw materials from the manufacture department do as to carry out the orders of the customers. The buying department releases the purchase orders to the chosen suppliers to send the relevant raw materials to the production site on the decided date.

Inventory

The suppliers send the raw materials, after which they are verified ...