Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Importance of supply chain management essay
Explain the importance of supply chain management
Explain the importance of supply chain management
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Importance of supply chain management essay
Supply Chain Management
Introduction:
Supply chain management (SCM) is both art and science that helps to increase the productivity of the company, find the raw components it needs to make a product or service and deliver it to customers. SCM helps the companies compete with the dynamic international market. According to Christopher (1994), a supply chain is “a network of organizations that are involved, through upstream and downstream linkages, in the different processes and activities that produce value in the form of products and services in the hands of the ultimate customer.”
Background of SCM:
Even though the term "supply chain management" was first coined by Keith Oliver in 1982, the concept was of great importance from the early 20th century especially when the assembly line was created. SCM has risen to eminence over the last ten years. Some authors defined SCM in operational terms involving the flow of materials and products, some viewed it as a management philosophy, and some viewed it in terms of a management process (Tyndall et al., 1998), some viewed it as integrated system. Authors have even conceptualized SCM differently within the same article: as a management philosophy on the one hand, and as a form of integrated system between vertical integration and separate identities on the other hand (Cooper and Ellram, 1993).
Evolution of SCM:
Supply chain management has become known with the increase in use of systems for electronic data interchange (EDI) in the 1960s and through the 1990s with the introduction of enterprise resource planning (ERP). Specialization within the supply chain began in the 1980s with the onset of warehouse management, transportation brokerages and non-asset-based carriers and has matured be...
... middle of paper ...
...nt-office" functions such as sales force automation (SFA), marketing automation and ecommerce. Companies in broad range of industries use ERP solutions for wholesale distribution and ecommerce.
Even though the "E" in ERP stands for "Enterprise," high-growth and mid-size companies are now rapidly adopting ERP systems. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions also known as "cloud computing" have increased its growth. Cloud-based solutions not only make ERP software more affordable, but also make them easy to implement and manage. ERP enables real-time reporting and BI, making them even valuable to executives and staff seeking visibility into the business.
As a result, many companies of various sizes and a wide range of industries are transitioning to cloud ERP systems. Also, there is a prediction that SaaS-based ERP adoption will rise 21 percent annually through 2015.
In the decade of 1980’s three major changes in supply chain management occurs. First, manufacturers focused on lower operating cost from reengineering cost structures. Second, they improve the customer service rather than costs reduction. Third, to improve the internal integration of logistics within the companies.
At the moment, Enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems had become important systems in the modern business world. The meaning of ERP itself is an integrated software package composed by a set of standard functional modules (production, sales, human resources, finance, etc.) developed or integrated by the vendor that can be adapted to the specific needs of each customer (Esteves et al. 2000).
Before we start, we would like to briefly introduce the definitions of Supply Chain and Supply Chain Management (SCM).
The Supply Support Activity (SSA), which is the Army’s grass root warehousing facility, is the nuts and bolts that holds together the elite fighting machine we call the United States Army. It is the place where all classes of supply are received, processed and issued to customers, it is also the place where the RL process begins. The Army has recently moved to a new and innovative warehousing platform known as the Global Combat Support System–Army (GCSS-A). GCSS-A is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system powered by SAP. This system integrates financial, maintenance, and warehouse management into one central system, whereas, in previous years these operations were separate, thus creating a disconnect between the systems in many cases.
For years now, the preference of mainstream supply chain management by major manufacturers, as well as distributors, has been driven by various factors. Today, best companies globally are increasingly discovering a great new source of their competitive advantage. This is called mainstream supply-chain management that encompasses majorly integrated activities as well as bringing product to market and creating satisfied customers. For example, today as customer-lead demand-planning moves deeper and deeper into the marketplace, all level of organization bot are experiencing a growing demand for mainstream Supply Chain Management. Many managers are increasingly finding themselves allotted the role of the rope in a rather real tug of war. This is to say they are pulled one way by their customers’ mounting demands now and then and in the opposite by the organizational goal for profitability and growth (Simchi-Levi et al., 2004). Nevertheless, mainstream supply chain management by major companies have been seen to possess both strengths and weakness. This is about operation of such a system and the expected return to the company in comparison to other traditional systems. This paper provides a critical
Supply chain management is basically refers to the fundamental supply chain analysis of the organization which predominantly describes functionalities from source to the delivery point. In this process of delivery, supply chain management framework divides in four categories: In Planning the products and suppliers evaluated and selected, Sourcing pull the information process including contracting, ordering and expediting, Moving is a physical process from suppliers to end user and Paying is the financial process including payment and performance measurement.
Coyle, J., Langley, C., Gibson, B., Novack, R. and Bardi, E. (2008).Supply Chain Management: A Logistics Perspective. 8th ed. Cengage Learning, p.366.
ERP helps a business get better visibility, information, and control of its inventory. In restaurants, product lifecycles are short. A good ERP system tracks the point of a product and collects vital information to make better purchasing decisions. This is key to a successful business. There cannot be inventory sitting for too long. Dead inventory has a major impact on a business’s cost of goods. Especially in the restaurant industry when products have an expiration date. Therefore, an efficient could ERP system is beneficial to a business. In the article, 4 Reasons Food and Beverage Manufacturers Should Consider Cloud ERP, Plex talks about these benefits. A cloud ERP system can help with better inventory control. Restaurants and beverage companies must track ingredients as they are put into drinks or dishes. The system would track the inventory from each batch all the
Supply chain management has been defined as that process that involves the management of information, materials, and all the finances that are handled within and across the entire supply chain process (Christopher, 2016). The management is usually done through out the entire supply chain management from that moment when the suppliers are involved through all the manufacturing activities, different distribution activities, and the way that the products are served to the final product consumer (Turban, et al., 2002). The process also includes all the activities that different organizations offers to their customers as after sale services for purposes perfecting their services and products towards their highly valued customers (Christopher,
described the ERP system as packaged (but customisable) software applications, which manage data from various organizational activities and provide a fully integrated solution to major organizational data management problems. They provide for both the core administrative functions, such as human resource management and accounting, as well as integrated modules which can be selected to support key business processes, such as warehousing, production and client management.
“An Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are software systems for business management, supporting areas such as planning, manufacturing, sales, marketing, distribution, accounting, finance, human resource management, project management, inventory management, service and maintenance, transportation, and e-business”.( Haag, Cummings, Phillips, S, M, A (2007). Mangement Information Systems. New Yory, NY: The McGraw-Hill Company Inc..)
In order to be more productive and accurate, most of the companies depend on use of technology, with the help of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. (Olsen, and Saetre, 2007).
‘Supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. It encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, thir- party service providers, and customers’. (Web: Council for Supply Chain Management Pr...
The key performance drivers of Supply Chain Management (SCM) are - facility effectiveness, inventory effectiveness, transportation effectiveness, information effectiveness, sourcing effectiveness, pricing effectiveness, delivery effectiveness, quality effectiveness and service effectiveness. These drivers include various performance markers that may be measured quantitatively by gathering information and applying them in SPSS. The works here may principally be quantitative with spellbinding measurable investigation. In the current world, practical supply chain management to help the triple primary concern, (nature, domain, and economy) is likewise included in the extent of supply chain performance drivers. This is relatively a quite new research region.
Many manufacturing and distribution companies now consider Supply Chain Management (SCM) as a vital strategic discipline for corporate survival and competitive advantage. SCM has gained importance as companies have realized that their capacity to reinvent competitive advantage depends less on their own internal capabilities and more on their ability to develop a network of business partners, in search of resources to assemble the right blend of competencies which help achieve their business objectives