Supply chain management (SCM) is the method of developing coordination and collaboration among various activities and optimizing processes to achieve the goals and objectives of the company. Businesses and companies develop SC strategies to decrease cost, amplify efficiency, and quickly respond to changing customer demands. Today, we’ll discuss the 4 types of supply chain strategies; their definitions, and types in detail.
What is Supply Chain Strategy?
The supply chain strategy is the mindmap and game plan of a company that how it would deal with its SC operations and processes to reach the goals and objectives of a company. The SC strategy comprises making decisions about where to store the material and supplies; the flow of goods and material in the SC network; the type of products to buy, and employing the particular suppliers. A well-developed strategy should keep in mind the speed, quality, and cost of every stage in the network.
An effective SC strategy helps you to differentiate between the struggling and the growing company. well-developed strategy allows you to speed up the time, improve the quality, and save money and capital resources. On the other hand, a bad strategy would result in the form of waste of resources, missed opportunities, and unsatisfied customers.
It is significant that the SC strategy should streamline with the overall business strategy of the company. For instance, if the objective of the company is to achieve low-cost leadership, then the focus of SC’s strategy should be on sourcing low-cost materials and supplies throughout the process. If a business or company plans to differentiate itself in terms of customer service, then the focus of SC strategy should be on amplifying flexibility and delivery time.
4 Types of Supply Chain Strategies
Let’s discuss the 4 types of supply chain strategies, and they’re as follows;
Customer-Focused
The customer-focused or client-centered strategy should be streamlined and integrated with the digital SC strategic capabilities of the company. The automation helps the SC team and professionals to focus on various activities and value-added processes. It would offer you the key insight about the market demand; right demand forecasting is the key, but it is not sufficient.
You can get the key insight about the market demand in real-time from multiple data sources and they’re as follows;
- Sentiment analysis
- Predictive algorithm
- Social media
- IoT (internet of things) sensor data
- Orders
- Point of sales
You should combine and integrate all of this data information to gain insight into superior customer service and learn how to improve business performance.
The integration of market demand and business planning processes offers your flexibility and responsiveness to the changes in demand, supply, and other factors in the SC channel. Better processes help you to establish collaboration among SC partners and stakeholders; and efficiently manage almost everything from one delivery to multiple shipments across the country borders. However, it results in the form of customer-focused outcomes by meeting their preferences and requirements and keeping the digital economy evolving.
Predictive Business
Technological tools like predictive business analysis and methods help you to establish and deal with SC networks and processes. It employs IoT sensors to establish direct contact with the physically manufactured and designed assets and products and get digital representation. However, it offers you 360-degree insight and information about the assets and equipment of the network and the products that manage customer houses.
You should employ the accessible data and implement it to develop asset and product intelligence and then implement it. If you have the knowledge and awareness about the performance of the product, then it would help you to predict the product disruption and recognize the needs and wants of customers.
Transparency & Visibility
Total supply chain visibility and transparency need almost a digital mirror of your company. The objective is to see and be aware of everything from the flow of goods in the manufacturing unit to the market-demanded products and get other relevant information from sentiment analysis, point of sale system, and other main sources. Real-time visibility and transparency would offer you key insight into weather patterns, traffic jams, and other accidents that are impacting supply chain disruptions.
Modern SC process and network operates way beyond the boundaries of the company, and it requires flexible coordination and collaboration among business partners, distribution centers, manufacturing facilities, and warehouse. Real-time visibility and transparency of SC processes would benefit you in the following ways;
- Increase compliance and sustainability of the global supply chain
- Ethical sourcing of raw supplies
- Cross border transaction
- Low exposure when dealing with product recall
Automation
A smart automation strategic approach plays a key role in employing warehouse software to develop integration among robots, human workers, and systems. It benefits you in various ways and they’re as follows;
- Flexibility to remove carrying cost
- Distribution and delivery processes
- Mass product customization
The latest technological tools and equipment like 3D printing for mass-scale production would help you to decrease the cost and improve flexibility.
Conclusion: 4 Types of Supply Chain Strategies
After an in-depth study of 4 types of supply chain strategies; we have realized that SC strategies are highly significant for the growth of your business. If you are learning about the types of SC strategies, then you should keep in mind the abovementioned types and definitions.
References
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