Principles of Supply Chain Management- Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Supply Chanin Management. Answer: Introduction: Supply chain management The concept of supply chain management is very crucial for every organization or industry. The fashion industry also needs effective supply chain management process to keep the business on track. This report describes the role of supply chain management in a company Silversurf Beachwear provided in the case study. By analyzing the case study, it is seen that the company is operating in Australian market and it is doing well in its business. Further, the planning of the company is to expand the business in the international market but it is not any easy task. There is the need of proper inventory management planning and sufficient amount of raw material to operate in the global market. Based on the case study, it is observed that company is planning to expand its business in Asia, USA, China, America and Europe. These are developed countries and there is strong competition in the fashion retail industry. In such case, company has to adopt effective manufacturing and distribution strat egies to survive in the competitive environment of the global market (Chopra Meindl, 2013). Inventory management and strategic planning For every company, inventory management is important part to manage supply chain of the products in the market. For the company Silversurf Beachwear, inventory management will have a positive impact on the business operations as the company will be able to manufacture quality clothes for the target customers (Rashid Aslam, 2012). To operate in the global market, company needs strategic planning along with proper inventory management. To control and manage unnecessary cost and review the development of the business, inventory management is useful for the Silversurf Beachwear. Along with this, for establishing effective and strong relationship with the customers and suppliers, inventory management would be very helpful for the company in the global market. Economic value of the company in terms of revenue and profit would also be managed by proper inventory management (Beske Seuring, 2014). Supply chain in Globalized world At the global level, there is the need of some different supply chain strategy to deal with the competition and to attract the potential customers in the market. In the supply chain management, there are some key factors and functions which must be covered by the company Silversurf Beachwear. The supply chain functions are storage, proper raw material, production and monitoring of the products, establishing relationship with the customers and suppliers and distributing the finished to the customer on time. Operating on the global level is not an easy task for the companies (Cannella, 2010). For this manner, company has to focus on the core components of the supply chain management i.e. planning, sourcing, manufacturing, delivering and return. By focusing on these five components, Silversurf Beachwear will be able manage its supply chain of raw material and finished products at the global level. Further, continuous flow and exchange of the information in terms of production, material and finance is needed in the supply chain management at the global level. So, company has to adopt these supply chain practices to expand its business in the most challenging country of fashion retail i.e. China. China is considered as the most challenging country contributing the economic sector of the clothing industry. By adopting effective supply chain practices, company will be able to operate in the China market effectively (Barney, 2012). Sustainable practices of supply chain There are many points which to needed to be reduced in the business operations if a company us going to operate in the global market. For this manner, sustainable supply chain practices must be adopted by the Silversurf Beachwear to reduce the risk of investment, improve time to market, and generating more profit in the market. Supply chain practices are useful in improving the level of production along with the manufacturing and distribution process. For the excellent customer service and customer loyalty, there is the need of good production of the clothing products in the Silversurf Beachwear. There are some supply chain practices that must be used by the company at the global level operation. Some of the supply chain practices are provided for the company (Assey, 2012). Company would keep all the information regarding the required and available inventories in the production of clothing products. There would be transaction based movements for maintaining the records of the movements of the raw materials and inventories. Further, automated data collection method would be used for tracking the inventory and raw material. By this method, company would able to gather all the data and information related to all the required raw material. Along with this, it is important to maintain adequate level of raw material in the company as high level of inventory can be the cause unnecessary cost in the business operations. For this manner, company would set re-order point including the arrangements of the safety stock of inventory (Wisner, 2011). Managing inventory Managing inventory is important part of the supply chain process in the company. For operating at the global level, there is the need to manage its inventory by Silversurf Beachwear. Managing inventory includes ordering raw material, work in progress, partner inventories and finished goods that must be focused by the company while planning to operate in the international level. Company would observe the inventory items effectively by using inventory tracking software and bar codes to escape from the errors in inventory storage. Further, while placing the order of raw material, inventory management software would be used by the company. Along with this, company would have a backup plan to use that at the time of any kind of failure (Pamela Pietro, 2011). Impact of Information Technology Technology has an important role in every business operations. There are various technologies which can be used to keep the record of inventories. Company would implement some effective technologies i.e. e-tailing, e-commerce warehousing, and material requirement planning etc. along with this, some software such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), and Enterprise resource planning (ERP) would also be used by the Silversurf Beachwear to maintain the supply chain activities at the global level. Conclusion From the above discussion, it can be said that supply chain management is helpful in reducing the workload of employees in the business operations. With the help of proper supply chain, company would be able to manage many business operations such as customer services, supplier and customer management, and inventory management. With the inventory management, company should do efforts for long term growth and should set the global standards for long term strategy because for the short term strategy. Along with this, company should start some activities such as adaption of IT resources, removal of unnecessary operation processes etc to improve the efficiency of supply chain. References Assey, J.J.M., (2012), A New Introduction to Supply Chains and Supply Chain Management: Definitions and Theories Perspective, Journal of Business and Economics, 5 (1), pp. 194-207 Barney, J.B., (2012), Purchasing, supply chain management and sustained competitive advantage: the relevance of resource-based theory, Journal of supply chain management, 48 (2), pp. 3-6 Beske, P., and Seuring, S., (2014), Putting sustainability into supply chain management, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 19 (3), pp. 324-333 Cannella, S., (2010), Up-to-date Supply Chain Management: the Coordinated (S, R), In Advanced Manufacturing and Sustainable Logistics,175-185, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Germany Chopra, S., Meindl, P., (2013), Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning, and Operation (5th ed.), US: Pearson, Global Edition Pamela, D., Pietro, R., (2011), Supply chain integration and efficiency performance: a study on the interactions between customer and supplier integration, Supply chain Management: An International Journal, 16, pp. 220-230 Rashid, K., and Aslam, M., (2012), Business excellence through total supply chain quality management, Asian Journal on Quality, 13(3), pp.309 324 Wisner, J. D., (2011), Principles of Supply Chain Management: A Balanced Approach, Cengage Learning