Strategic Supply Chain Management & Logistics -myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theStrategic Supply Chain Management Logistics for Speed. Answer: Introduction Organizations uses supply chain management system in order to maximize their efficiency and speed and optimizing the operational functionalities. Christopher (2016) stated that organization value speed in business as customer always prefers fast service. However, Stadtler (2015) argued that if an organization only considers on speed, the quality of the business operation might get compromised and thus efficiency is equally important. Thus, for maintaining both the speed and efficiency implementation of supply chain management system is required. The main function of supply chain management process is the storage and movement of both work- in- progress goods and final products fro manufacturing site to the point of consumption. In this business report, the supply chain management process and a plan for effective SCM strategies will be discussed. The organization hat is taken into consideration is Landmark Group in United Arab Emirates. The major operations of this group is retailing of apparel, cosmetics, electronics products, footwear and other home improvements. In this business assessment, the importance of effective supply chain management will be illustrated along with the link between SCM and business functions, key drivers for integrated SCM strategy and incorporation of information technology in the SCM. This business report will also address the role of logistics in supply chain management and procurement practices in supply chain. Effective strategies will also develop to improve the SCM and the benefit of overall business performance will also be elaborated. Lastly, explanation for how a well implemented supply chain improvement strategy will overcome the barrier of business functions will also b e addressed. Discussion Importance of supply chain management Importance of effective supply chain management in achieving organizational objectives Jacobs and Chase (2013) stated supply chain management directly or indirectly fulfills their demands and assure that they can get their products on time. Tayur et al. (2012) also highlight that the major stakeholders in SCM are manufacturer, marketers, warehouses, transporters, retailer and lastly the consumers. The prime aim of SCM is to maximize the overall value generated so that the supply chain profitability can be enhanced. Monczka et al. (2015) described that the difference in the amount paid by the customers to purchase the products and the total cost incurred to formulate the product is known as supply chain profitability. One of the major objectives that all organization desire to attain is looking for different sources of revenue and cost. In case of Landmark group they have implemented multiple business operation which ion incorporation with supply chain management attains the cost quality improvements and shortening the time for order and deliver it to the end customer, thus, attaining maximum profitability which on the other hand is a major organizational objective. Moreover, an efficient SCM can obtain a good understanding of business characteristics and provides flexible planning and control mechanism. SCM also reduces transportation cost or the resource that is given to third party provides which increases the overall annual revenue- another organizational objective. Link between supply chain management and business functions in an organization The basic link between these two factors is that maintaining SCM is a working approach of business function. Ahi and Searcy (2013) stated that the more effective is the SCM, the more efficient will be a company to obtain its goal. Moreover, SCM engage an organization in three levels- strategic, tactical and operational. Managing authority is liable to decide how the implemented SCM will work, while; tactical approach shows what features to be included in the SCM. Lastly, the organization also decides how the system actually works so that it can obtain the desired organizational aims. Process of organizational function can be witnessed from product development, where an organization plans for a new product launch when their old products get unnoticed. In such cases SCM plays a crucial role to set new product in the market. Sarkis (2012) furthermore includes that many company differential their other subsidiary which also handled by SCM of the parent company. In such context, the SCM i s closely related to obtain overall business functions. Lastly, SCM is associated with the external business environment and with the help of SCM; an organization can identify their position in market competition (Agus and Shukri Hajinoor 2012). Key drivers for achieving an integrated supply chain strategy in an organization Some of the key drivers for obtaining an integrated SCM strategy are procurement process and customer service management process. Walker and Jones (2012) stated in procurement process, the tactics with the supplier to maintain the manufacturing current management is required for new product development. In case of Landmark Group, it has an international presence and thus, these manufacturing details have to be taken on an international basis so that costumer demands and market competition in each territory can be identified. Monczka et al. (2015) describes that in some cases, collaboration with suppliers from other nation should be obtained so that they can take benefit from each other and the total time for satisfying the consumer need can be reduced. On the other hand, customer service management process refers to a situation where customer gets the real time information on product accessibility. Landmark Group utilizes approaches like- preserving the customer relationship by provi ding them accurate information regarding their products, verifying associated goals both for customer and organization and lastly producing optimistic feeling for future association by attractive product development. Effectiveness of supply chain management strategies Effectiveness of strategies used by Landmark to maintain supplier relationships Efficient management of the SCM is the important way to manage their suppliers. Landmark Group implements sourcing strategies, the way they managed and the way they exchange policies with other territories. Wisner et al. (2014) depicted that maintaining supplier relationships is crucial for being the customer of choice, fosters partnership based on trust, managing working capital and setting clear expectations and KPIs. It is also said by Chan et al. (2012) that effective strategies of Landmark for managing supplier relationships improve supply chain sustainability. Landmark Group understands the cost and value of the entire supply chain system. They always share the information of cost involved in raw materials and final products with the supplier. Johnson (2014) also highlight that the concerned organization also accepts accountability and plan sufficiently in order to request orders from suppliers. The prime reason for that is emergency handling of supplier management not always p rovide a positive result. Landmark Group spend equal time aligning incentives and penalties to the suppliers on achieving their goals and if they make any unnecessary halts. Utilizing information technology to create strategies to develop an organizations relationship with the suppliers Landmark Group utilizes many technologies which is used to develop relationship with their suppliers and that are- analyze the actual information about the market trends sales and orders. The managers also predict and respond rapidly changes in demand. All the suppliers are connected through digital technology like e-mails and spreadsheet via networks. However, the real-time data are not available with all the suppliers and thus in recent times; the technology of cloud is considered. This technology also allow the organization to forecast systems or inventory planning, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and online analytical processing systems in order to analyze history sales performance. Priem and Swink (2012) stated that the advantage of ERP system is that connecting order and purchasing system is easily achieved and thus all the suppliers can place and track their orders. All these IT allow the Landmark Group to develop an effective relationship with their suppliers IT in supply chain management Assistance of information technology integration of different parts of the supply chain of an organization Golicic and Smith (2013) stated that role of IT plays a crucial role in integrating different parts of the supply chain within the organization. The working departments where the IT technology integrates the business is as follows: Allocation network strategies Wieland and Marcus Wallenburg (2012) stated that allocating resources denotes the planning of the technology for maintaining the supply chain process. Landmark Group on the other hand use the technology for allocating resources to warehouses and retailer. Implementing of the IT in allocating resources and maintaining details not only make the process fast but reduce the total holding and logistics costs. Formulation source strategy The two major components of the SCM that are logistics and production costs are integrated through this IT system. Prajogo and Olhager (2012) depicted that retailer like Landmark Group make some production line so famous that they produce that production line to such an extent that the total cost for production gets reduced and they do not have to include new technology by investing extra financial resources. Stadtler (2015) argued that the heavy production on the other hand results in greater transportation cost but the production in small batches related to the high fixed but the balance between the two selected process. Evaluation source strategy The IT system that is incorporated in this context is inventory control system that stores the information of the stock, economic order quantity and other details like weight of the products, manufacturing and expiry dates of the edible products. This technology allows Landmark Group to reduce the holding and ordering costs and also helps in avoiding the adversity of over stocking and under stocking of products. Contribution of information technology in the management of the supply chain of an organization Jacobs and Chase (2013) stated that the information technology helps in maintaining all the real time details and then maintain the data accurately without any redundancy. However, the information technology helps in rapid procedure to information and provides customer service. The IT system manages all the detail of the customer and their orders that helps in fulfilling their demands in time. Fawcettn et al. (2013) also stated that it leads to the reduction in use of paper and manual work. All the automation technology helps the Landmark Group to maintain the files and track the orders effectively. Thus, there is an increase in productivity as due to automation technology all the order reached to their customer before time. Baltzan (2012) also stated that implementation of IT results in improved tracing and expediting approach also leads to reduce in cost. Moreover, implementation of IT results in competitive advantage through the POS system where all the billing and weighting proce ss scan be attained automatically. Effectiveness of information technology in managing the supply chain of an organization Sarkis (2012) stated that information technology offers many opportunity like it is comparatively less capital intensive which means that it saves lot of financial resources which on the other hand increases the annual revenue. The IT technology is also clean and environmental friendly which on the other hand enhance the CPD rating of the organization. Dyckhoff et al. (2013) on the other hand argued that electricity consumption might raise the problem of global warming but in this case also Landmark Group introduces the green IT technology system. Another benefit of IT technology is that the process can be maintained without bounding to a particular geographic location. The maintenance of IT technology does not need expensive infrastructure facilities and thus, not much cost is required for implementing IT system. It technology helps in obtaining better control on inventory at different level of supply chain management system. The IT system also keeps better utilization of manpower a nd avoids the process of stealing from inventory. Krajewski et al. (2013) depicted that with the help of IT technology; details about different supplier can be found from any corner of the world and then select a reliable supplier for business. Incorporation of the IT in SCM also results in reduction of lead times of the material supply and retrieval time of the documented information as sharing of information can be attain instantly. Role of logistics in supply chain management Role of logistics in supply chain management in an organization Traditionally, SCM is understood to be a process that involves in the process of transportation of products from one place to other. However, in recent times, Landmark Group utilizes the SCM for material management, channel management and distribution of the products. Material management The SCM allows the organization note all the required information that is needed for the management of products like the storage of the products and how many items are present in every slot of shipments. Ross (2016) stated that this is also known as management of warehouses, where the organization can acquire and arrange the store supplies, manage warehouse functions, ensures and updating goods receipt and record keeping for all material issues, returns along with the damaged products. Channel management SCM plays a crucial role in channel management where marketing channels for the promotion of the developed products is considered. The channel management also refers to the strategic partnerships with the suppliers and retail customers through effective communication technology. The channel management also contains technology leveraging in order to increase efficiency through cooperation of all parties, automatic order systems that furthermore decrease delivery lead times. Distribution of the products Winter and Knemeyer (2013) stated that the distributed management refers to movement of goods from supplier or manufacturer and fulfils the approaches of packaging, inventory, warehousing, logistics and supply chain. The SCM process should check the availability of the resources whether or not they are able to fulfill all the customer demands and then the product is transferred to one place to another. Incorporation of technology like barcodes and RFID technology, tracking of all the packages can be attained successfully. Procurement practices in an organization The Landmark Group follows procurement and Supply Chain (PSC) policies in order to support the approaches in the SCM that they are following. The prime objective of the organization is to produce and market food products that can fulfill the demand of customers and consumer prospect. Landmark Group opted for two kind of procurement strategies- Pre competitive and Competitive. Pre-competitive strategy This strategy deals with the association that Landmark Group developed with other nations. The concerned organization collaborated with local farmers so that they can get raw material not only in low process but also can get the fresh item for their hospitability. Moreover, they also developed partnership with local stores in order to offer their products to end-customers. Competitive strategy Landmark Group follows this strategy in order to attain the leading position in UAE. The competitive strategy deals to encourage the sustainable SCM practices for effective supply and mounting privileged contractor contracts. Factors that must be considered when improving logistics and procurement practices The important factors that ensures the civilization of logistics and procurement practices are- inventory management, warehouse, transportation, effective order processing, material handling and effective information system. Inventory management- The action of controlling ordering, storage and delivery of the products from storage system is known as inventory management. The availability of stock is evaluated in this process and thus, better management of stock leads to improve logistics and procurement practices. Warehouse- The effectiveness of the product and information flow in between the supply and beneficiaries results in better warehouse management which on the other hand improving logistics and procurement practices in Landmark Group. Transportation- Landmark Group uses a combination of different transportation modes like- sea freight for transporting their products to other nation, roads based on the feasibility of the used cargos. The company also have several distribution points nearly located to the final location like regional distribution centre (RDC), origin consolidated freight stations (CFS) and central distribution centre (CDC). Effective order processing- Implementation of IT system allow the organization to get the order from customer in real time and then fulfill the order through the effective transportation system. This process will also enhance the logistics and procurement practices. It can also be said that the information technology also enhances the quality of the SCM. Strategy to improve supply chain management Strategy to improve an organizations supply chain Some strategies that Landmark can use to improve their supply chain management are: Reduction in cost: All the process should be selected optimally so that the overall production cost can be reduced. Taken for instance, rather than hiring a third party provider for IT team in SCM they can also formulated in-house IT department, who can handle all the operational functionality of supply chain. Reduction in time: All the SCM operations should be implemented in such a way so that the total time for accomplishing all the tasks need lesser time. Regular and updated information should be communicated to each supplier so that they can collaboratively obtain al the organizational policies and objectives. Enhancement in quality: All the quality of the products should be enhanced and use of greener technology should also be incorporated so that people can prefer their brand compared to all other brands. The Landmark can also conduct customer survey so that exact demand can be identified. Benefit from supply chain improvement strategy overall business performance in an organization There are several reasons through which supply chain improvement strategy can improve the business performance. The improved strategy results in reduction in inventories that results in when the demands of customer arise, the organization produces the products.. This also leads in reduction of wastage of inventory. The improved system enhances the information sharing among the partners due to updated technology. The strategy also improves the customer service as everyone gets their required demand in time. Moreover, trust among partners can also be attained, which improves the partnership and both of them collaboratively work for attaining the organizational objectives. Thus, all the approach increased the organizational profitability. Overcome the barriers by implementing a supply chain improvement strategy Effective supply chain management system creates stronger connection with customers as the organization emphasizes on customer satisfaction. Warehouse and inventory management updates the required orders and then manufactures the desired order to fulfill the customer needs. The strategy also overcomes the barrier of complexity reduction as all the procedure is transparent with all suppliers and production will be done in a concise way. Moreover, it can also be said that by implementing the suggested supply chain improvement strategy, the organization can also attain improved internal collaboration as it provides incentives and other benefits to their suppliers for obtaining the organizational goals. The SCM strategy also offer practical interdependencies with the product design, supply chain management along with the sales, marketing and finance. Reference List Agus, A. and Shukri Hajinoor, M., 2012. Lean production supply chain management as driver towards enhancing product quality and business performance: Case study of manufacturing companies in Malaysia. International Journal of Quality Reliability Management, 29(1), pp.92-121. Ahi, P. and Searcy, C., 2013. A comparative literature analysis of definitions for green and sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 52, pp.329-341. Baltzan, P., 2012. Business driven technology. McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Chan, H.K., He, H. and Wang, W.Y., 2012. 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