Supply chain management (SCM) is extremely complex, as it involves all processes from the supply of input to the delivery to customers. At the most basic level, SCM is managing the flow of goods, data, and finances related to a product or service, from sourcing raw materials to delivering the product to its destination. Despite the various challenges of this system, new solutions and strategies allow optimisation in this area.
Consequently, it is important for your business to learn ways to optimise supply chain management for better results, increase competitiveness and boost profitability. Have you ever wondered how you can boost your supply chain management and improve your overall operations? Below are 3 ways you can:
Observe Trends & Use Technology Tools
Technological development has generated several possibilities for improving supply chain management. Therefore, it is necessary to be attentive to quantitative fluctuations to help you understand the change in buyers’ consumption habits and, above all, to learn about new technologies and methodologies that can improve SCM for your business. These new technologies and methodologies include the following:
Internet of Things
With the potential to allow the connection between electronic devices via the wireless internet, creating a network of intelligent equipment, the Internet of Things (IoT) can be implemented in the most varied segments of your supply chain. The automation provided by this technological tool can improve your business’ storage processes, inventory management, transportation of goods and customer service.
Autonomous Supply Chain
Processes related to supply chain management have become increasingly autonomous, thanks to the various possibilities brought by technology. Some examples of automation you can implement to improve your business supply chain include automation of production lines, deliveries using drones, self-driving vehicles, and so on.
Omnichannel
Omnichannel marketing is a holistic approach on user engagement in which a company gives access to their products, offers, and support services to customers on all platforms and devices. It enables brands to build stronger relationships with their audience and increase sales by engaging customers across multiple channels. Omnichannel allows you to offer different sales channels to your customers. As your company’s sales become increasingly fractional, you’ll see omnichannel as a great alternative to optimise your logistics.
Adoption of Best Practices in SCM
Managing your supply chain successfully may be the most difficult part of your business operations, yet it’s a crucial aspect that could make your business grow drastically or dwindle and fizzle out. Thus, if you must survive the ever-growing competitive market, you have to promote the management of your business’s supply chain with excellence. This would require the implementation of the best practices in Supply Chain Management that are based on the integration between sectors, employees, and operational activities. They are discussed below:
Process Mapping
Mapping does not only mean making an initial survey of the set of procedures, actions and tasks that are performed in your company, but also involves monitoring their development. It is a continuous practice that should be part of your company’s administrative routine. It is through the permanent mapping of processes that your company would be able to periodically evaluate its performance throughout its production flow. This practice allows your managers to make improvements throughout all stages that comprise or depend on your company’s supply chain.
Lowest Stock
One of the pillars for efficient supply chain management is inventory control, as its volume can impact the overall functioning of your business. Even if in some situations, such as purchase opportunities with large percentages of discounts, your company chooses to increase its quantity of raw materials and supplies, the ideal is to keep inventory consistently lower.
Cooperation Between Professionals
To efficiently manage the supply chain of your business, it is essential to encourage teamwork among all employees and departments of your company. It is precisely the integrated cooperation of professionals that allows both the optimisation of the company’s operational routines, increasing its productivity and the identification of any bottlenecks that are interfering with business performance.
Make a Strategic Plan
It is worth reinforcing the central point of supply chain management: strategic planning. All the factors we have listed in this post, from observing market trends, to using tools and methodologies focused on results, must be part of business planning. This means that it is necessary to keep an uninterrupted analysis of all the data coming from your supply chain, translating this information into management reports. From there, you can outline your company’s next steps in the future to maintain Supply Chain Management optimisation.
When well planned and executed, supply chain management allows your company to optimise its productivity, add more quality to its products and charge better prices. It reduces operating costs, ensure punctual delivery and, above all, work on customer satisfaction. No company is an island, and neither is yours. While you need to relate to customers, investors and partners, you must also take care of the relationship with suppliers. This is the only way to keep your company operating at full speed and optimise its operational routines for success.
Since logistics is a crucial part of supply chain management, the icing on the cake will be to employ the services of a tech-enabled logistics service provider like GIGL. With a robust delivery network spanning 230+ locations worldwide, GIG Logistics remains Africa’s leading logistics firm, providing technologically-driven logistics solutions to its ever-increasing clientele across the globe.
Abiodun Adebayo: GIGL – How to boost your business’s supply chain management
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