In today’s competitive and digitalized world, businesses are looking to regain control of their supply chains in order to remain competitive. By creating a supply chain management strategy, your company can work towards achieving its organizational objectives while minimizing its risk. A supply chain management strategy is a set of policies, processes, and strategies that guide the movement of goods from point A to point B. It does this by identifying the key players involved in the manufacturing process and establishing rules regarding who has access to what goods at different stages of the manufacturing process. This article will explore the basics of a supply chain management strategy, give you tips on how to create one that works for your business. These skills may be learned through a Postgraduate Diploma in Supply Chain Management or you may think of doing doctorate if you fully understand What is a PhD in Supply Chain Management & Logistics?
What is a supply chain management strategy?
A supply chain management strategy is a set of policies, processes, and strategies that guide the movement of goods from point A to point B. It does this by identifying the key players involved in the manufacturing process and establishing rules regarding who has access to what goods at different stages of the manufacturing process. It can also help to manage the flow of goods within an organization. While there are many different approaches to creating a supply chain management strategy, the core elements remain the same for each strategy. To create a supply chain management strategy that works for your business, you’ll need to:
- Define your objectives
- Identify your key players
- Determine your manufacturing model
- Create your supply chain flowchart
- The benefits of working with a supply chain
- Identify the key players involved in your supply chain
- Develop a process for identifying and dealing with risk
- Create a map of your supply chain to aid in management and processing
Supply Chain Risk:
Summing up Another important part of a supply chain management strategy is the identification of risks. Risks are conditions that may occur within your supply chain that are potentially damaging to your business. You can use the three-tiered approach method to identify and manage risks within your supply chain. This approach will help you identify and prioritize risks that may affect your business.
Identify your key players
Your supply chain management strategy will not succeed without the involvement of key players at each point in the supply chain. Identify these key players by using the following questions:
- Who makes the products that you purchase?
- Who distributes these products? – Who sells these products?
- And last but not least, who purchases these products?
As you can see from the list, identifying your key players starts with the end goal of working with them as little as possible. If you have to work with your key players on a daily basis, your supply chain management strategy will have a much harder time working for you.
Determine your manufacturing model
Once you’ve identified your key players, it’s time to determine the manufacturing model that works best for your business. There are a number of different ways to do this. One way is to use the maturity model that you discussed earlier in the article. Another way to determine your manufacturing model is to look at your product life cycle. This model helps companies understand just how long different stages of their products take to complete and provides a good guideline for how long each stage should take.
Create your supply chain flowchart
In order to create your supply chain flowchart, start by brainstorming different ways that your products could be used. After that, break down each flowchart section into smaller, more specific activities. For example, if your products are used in the travel industry, your flowchart might look like this:
- Planning the route to your destination
- Planning the duration of your travel
- Selecting appropriate hotels
- Determining the best times to visit each city
- Taking in the sights
- and last but not least, eating the best food!
Now that you know where each activity in your flowchart should take place, you can start working on the planning and creation of your supply chain.
The benefits of working with a supply chain
Now that you’ve gotten a brief introduction to the basics of a supply chain management strategy and what it entails to the graduates of Master International Supply Chain Management, let’s examine the benefits that your business will experience by working with a supply chain. There are a number of benefits that you’ll experience if you choose to work with a supply chain, including:
Increased efficiency
- There is always pressure toate as fast as possible, but when you have a supply chain in place, your organization will be able to produce more with less.
- There is always pressure toate as fast as possible, but when you have a supply chain in place, your organization will be able to produce more with less.
Decreased risk
- By using a supply chain, you’re effectively managing the risk that products will be delayed, lost, or stolen in transit.
- By using a supply chain, you’re effectively managing the risk that products will be delayed, lost, or stolen in transit. Simplicity
- When you have a supply chain in place, it is much easier to identify and manage risks due to increased transparency.
Identify the key players in your supply chain
Once you’ve got a sense for how your supply chain works, you can start identifying the key players. Begin by using the following questions to identify your key players:
- Who makes the products that you purchase?
- Who distributes these products?
- Who sells these products?
- And last but not least, who purchases these products?
As you can see from the list, identifying your key players starts with the end goal of working with them as little as possible. If you have to work with your key players on a daily basis, your supply chain management strategy will have a much harder time working for you.
Develop a process for identifying and dealing with risk
One of the most significant factors that affects the success of a supply chain is the quality of the risk identification and management process. This is where your supply chain management strategy can really come into its own. You’ll need to develop a process for identifying risks that are small, mid-sized, or large in order to maximize the chances of successful risk identification and management.
The following are some examples of how you can go about doing this:
- Identify the impact of defaults. What might happen if a supplier doesn’t fulfill a product order?
- Assign a level of risk to specific items. For example, you might want to assign a certain level of risk to each country in your supply chain in order to better understand certain risks associated with international trade.
- Estimate the likelihood of certain outcomes. For example, you might want to estimate the likelihood of a supplier defaulting on a product delivery order in order to work towards bettering this risk through contingency planning.
Create a map of your supply chain to aid in management and processing
Once you’ve developed a process for identifying risks and assigning levels of risk to them, it’s time to create a map of your supply chain to aid in management and processing. This will help you identify where and when you might experience a disruption in your supply chain. Creating a map of your supply chain can be a two-step process. First, create a flowchart that identifies the major activities within your supply chain and their associated risks. Next, use the flowchart to create a map of your supply chain. This map should show the location of your main manufacturing facility, as well as the distribution and marketing locations where the product is sold.
Summing up:
The benefits of a supply chain management strategy are almost too numerous to list. By creating a supply chain management strategy, you’ll be able to:
- Roll out production with ease.
- Decrease your risk of being late to production due to a disruption in the supply chain. – Cultivate better risk identification and management practices.
- Improve your ability to forecast the impact of new technologies and regulations. We hope that this article has been helpful in getting you started on the path to creating a supply chain management strategy for your business.
