Managing various areas of your supply chain process is difficult and challenging. The focus of professionals used to be on the flow of goods from one point to another as an SCM process for a very long time. Companies should disintegrate their SC processes in a highly competitive environment. Today, we’ll discuss the top 10 strategic activities in supply chain management.
Top 10 Strategic Activities in Supply Chain Management
Let’s discuss the top 10 strategic activities in supply chain management, and they’re as follows;
Evaluation & Riskiness
Recognizing risk factors in the SC processes would help companies manage problems and issues whenever they come up and become more adaptable. Many outer and external factors would impact the riskiness of the business; the supplier sourcing decision is one of the most significant decisions you would ever make for your business.
Analysis Regularly
In order to maintain high standards, it is significant that you should regularly and constantly analyze your SC processes. Regularly collecting data, conducting reviews, and analysis would offer you a key insight to achieve visibility and transparency and decrease future risk factors.
Inventory Management
Many SCM professionals avoid and overlook the significance of inventory management. Warehousing strategies are different and it makes it difficult for companies to find the most cost-efficient and effective strategy. The inventory would comprise 40% of the original procurement price.
Centralized Contract Management
Centralized contract plays a key role in the supply chain in contract management. You can easily overlook the most important detail when the contract would go through in various hands and departments; operations, procurement, legal, and finance. The SCM would manage various details and arrangements like contract standardization and better compliance.
However, the processes of contract revision, contract maintenance, and contract signing should be efficient and simple. The contract consolidation in the SCM department would help SC leaders to efficiently deal with the risk factor by exploiting the service expenditure.
Supplier Sourcing
Pricing is one of the critical elements; various factors could amplify or decrease the cost immediately and dramatically. Usually, the lower cost means poor quality; your business loses sales and revenue, and it would jeopardize your business in the long term. However, it is significant to be aware of the various costs involved in the SCM process like warehousing, maintenance, training, and operations. The dynamic procuring department would help you to find the right partner with the right mindset. Resultantly, it impacts your profitability in the long term.
Cost of Ownership
Many modern companies could change their focus and attention from procuring costs towards TCO (total cost of ownership). The focus of companies should be on TCO rather than the acquisition cost; it comprises half of the total cost. TCO would help companies to beware of the cost and profit margin with every minute detail; it also helps them in the planning stage. However, the SC council comprises managers and departmental heads to ensure the accuracy of the data. Sellers and procurers should collaborate with each other to decrease the TCO.
Alliance
Developing an alliance with the collaborative partner plays a key role in managing your SCM processes. The key traits of building healthier partnerships and alliances are collaboration, common goals and objectives, and transparency. Without effective partnerships and alliances, the efficiency and profitability of the SCM processes and operations would decrease. It would jeopardize your customer experience along with your brand.
Employing Technology
Implementing the latest technology in the SCM processes has become a standard strategic approach in today’s business environment. It is significant to select the right platform that is relevant to the needs and requirements of your business. SAPs and ERP are great SCM tools and applications; they help you in the following;
- Automate specific tasks and processes
- Decreasing paperwork
- Higher visibility and transparency
- Improving productivity
- Decreasing risk factors
- Database insight
- Right decision making
- Better data management and cost
SC Council
The supply chain council would analyze the operations, needs, and structure of your SC business. If your council is diverse, then you should keep in mind the needs and requirements of all the departments and units. It allows you to make an informed the decision that is beneficial to the entire company
Standardized Processes
If you manage to develop consistency in your SC processes and operations, then it allows you to become more reliable. It is true for those businesses and companies that deal with global suppliers, manufacturers, and vendors. Product, plant, and platform templates would help them to follow the production and regulations easily and seamlessly. Automobile companies employ common vehicle platforms to streamline their SC strategy.
Conclusion: Top 10 Strategic Activities in Supply Chain Management
After an in-depth study of the top 10 strategic activities in supply chain management; we have realized that strategic planning plays a key role in SCM processes. If you are learning about the strategic activities in SCM; then you should keep in mind the abovementioned top strategic approaches.
References
- https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/business/trends-and-insights/articles/supply-chain-strategy/
- https://stockarea.io/blogs/top-supply-chain-management-strategies-for-your-business/
- https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/midsize-business/supply-chain-strategy/
- https://www.gep.com/blog/strategy/understanding-strategic-supply-chain-management
- https://www.gep.com/blog/strategy/understanding-strategic-supply-chain-management
- https://www.ascm.org/ascm-insights/what-is-supply-chain-strategy/
- https://www.cascade.app/blog/best-supply-chain-strategies
- https://www.hcltech.com/technology-qa/what-is-supply-chain-management-strategy
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