Manage suppliers

Learner Guide: TLIL5055

Manage a supply chain

TLIL5055 Manage a Supply Chain

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Contents TLIL5055 Unit Description ................................................................................................................ 5

Application of Unit ........................................................................................................................... 5

Element and Performance Criteria .................................................................................................. 5

Performance Evidence ..................................................................................................................... 6

Knowledge Evidence ........................................................................................................................ 6

What is Supply Chain Management? ............................................................................................... 7

Legislation ........................................................................................................................................ 8

Australian consumer law ...............................................................................................................10

Supply Chain Management Jobs ....................................................................................................11

Section 1 Implement demand-driven supply chain management strategy .................................... 12

Supply chain strategies ......................................................................................................................12

Supply chain strategies generally conform to one of six types. Choose the best one for your

organisation, and you'll manage your business more effectively. ................................................12

The four elements of supply chain strategy ..................................................................................12

Industry framework. ......................................................................................................................12

Unique value proposal. ..................................................................................................................13

Internal processes. .........................................................................................................................13

Managerial focus. ..........................................................................................................................14

Six generic supply chain models ....................................................................................................14

Supply chains oriented to efficiency ..............................................................................................14

The "Efficient" Supply Chain Model...............................................................................................15

The "Fast" Supply Chain Model .....................................................................................................15

The "continuous-flow" supply chain model ..................................................................................16

Supply chains oriented to responsiveness ....................................................................................16

The "agile" supply chain model. ....................................................................................................17

The "custom-configured" supply chain model ..............................................................................17

The "flexible" supply chain ............................................................................................................18

Simultaneous capabilities or multiple supply chains? ...................................................................19

Section 2 Manage supply chain ................................................................................................... 20

Supply Chain Management ...............................................................................................................20

Lower Costs – .................................................................................................................................20

Improved Collaboration – ..............................................................................................................20

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Cycle Times – .................................................................................................................................21

Response to Conflict – ...................................................................................................................21

What do we really mean by supply chain management? .............................................................21

SCM is what you make of it ...........................................................................................................21

What does supply chain management software do? ....................................................................22

What is the goal of installing supply chain management software? ............................................22

Supply Chain Collaboration............................................................................................................23

Levels of Collaboration ..................................................................................................................23

Benefits of Supply Chain Collaboration .........................................................................................24

Section 3 Evaluate and improve supply chain effectiveness ......................................................... 26

How to Evaluate, Improve & Manage a Supply Chain Management Solution .................................26

Defining Your Requirements and Expectations .............................................................................26

Benchmarking Your Current Operation .........................................................................................26

Evaluating Your Choices Capabilities, Competencies, and Highest Total Value............................27

Obtain “Buy in” and Manage Change ............................................................................................27

Implement a Successful Improvement Plan ..................................................................................28

How to Ensure Long-Term Success ................................................................................................28

Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................29

Acknowledgements:................................................................................................................... 30

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TLIL5055 Unit Description

Application of Unit

This unit involves the skills and knowledge required to manage a supply chain within various contexts in the transport and logistics industry. It covers the relationships between an organisation and its supply and demand partners along the chain.

It includes implementing a demand-driven supply chain management strategy, managing the supply chain, and evaluating and improving supply chain effectiveness.

The unit generally applies to those who lead individuals or teams.

No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.

Element and Performance Criteria

1. Implement demand- driven supply chain management strategy

1.1 Responsibility for supply chain management within the organisation is assigned in accordance with the strategy interpreted 1.2 Technology and software for implementing the strategy is accessed and operationalised within the requirements of the strategy and budgetary allocation 1.3 Policies and procedures are designed to guide business relations and operations in accordance with the strategy 1.4 Supporting business processes are designed or re-designed to support implementation of the strategy 1.5 Support is provided to staff, customers and supply chain to assist in implementation of the strategy

2. Manage supply chain

2.1 Communication and information exchange with strategic partners and suppliers is managed in accordance with the supply chain management strategy 2.2 Collaboration with supply chain organisations is facilitated to determine demand at each level of the supply chain in accordance with the strategy 2.3 Sales and payments are managed in accordance with supply chain and risk management strategies, and legal and ethical requirements 2.4 Actions to build trust and foster a supply chain culture are implemented in accordance with the strategy 2.5 Opportunities are identified to adjust policies and procedures to respond to the changing needs of customers, supply chain and the organisation

3. Evaluate and improve supply chain effectiveness

3.1 Demand chain management and supply chain management are monitored in accordance with the supply chain management strategy 3.2 Effectiveness of the supply chain is reviewed with each level of the supply chain, including staff and customers, and areas are identified for improvement 3.3 Business data and reports are used to compare outcomes, budgets, timelines and forecasts to actual performance 3.4 Technology performance is reviewed and recommendations are made for improvements to hardware, software and/or their use, in accordance with strategy and budget 3.5 Feedback and evaluation results are used to plan and improve future supply chain management strategies

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Performance Evidence

Evidence required demonstrating competence in this unit must be relevant to and satisfying all of the requirements of the elements and performance criteria on at least one occasion and including:

➢ applying relevant legislation and workplace procedures

➢ developing and implementing policies

➢ focusing on the customer

➢ implementing, managing and reviewing management strategies

➢ implementing contingency plans

➢ negotiating and liaising with suppliers and relevant stakeholders, verbally and in writing

➢ using appropriate technology, including software

➢ working collaboratively with others

➢ working with attention to detail and thoroughness.

Knowledge Evidence

Evidence required to demonstrate competence in this unit must be relevant to and satisfy all of the requirements of the elements and performance criteria and include knowledge of:

➢ business terms and conditions for purchasing, tendering and contracting

➢ ethical behaviour

➢ legislation related to importing commodities

➢ legislation, codes of practice, national and international standards applicable Acts and

contract law

➢ organisational policies and procedures related to supply chain management, purchasing,

contracting and tendering

➢ procedures for operating electronic communications equipment

➢ product knowledge related to goods and services required by the organisation

➢ requirements for completing relevant documentation

➢ ways to build trust and collaboration as opposed to competition.

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What is Supply Chain Management? Supply chain management includes all the activities a business employs to keep its products flowing, from sourcing raw materials, to delivering finished goods at the point of purchase. Top firms in industries such as automotive, food and beverage, computer hardware, electronics, and pharmaceuticals practice supply chain management to deliver goods consumers want or need at a price the market will support.

Businesses from manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, to warehouses, healthcare providers and government agencies use supply chain management principles to plan, assemble, store, ship, and track products from the beginning to the end of the supply chain.

Supply chain management encompasses collaboration with suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers, and includes:

➢ Sourcing raw materials and parts

➢ Manufacturing and assembly

➢ Warehousing and inventory tracking

➢ Order entry and order management

➢ Delivery to the customer

Supply chain management, is the active management of supply chain activities to maximise customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage

Supply chain activities cover everything from product development, sourcing, production, and logistics, as well as the information systems needed to coordinate these activities.

The organisations that make up the supply chain are “linked” together through physical flows and information flows.

Physical flows involve the transformation, movement, and storage of goods and materials. They are the most visible piece of the supply chain.

Information flows allow the various supply chain partners to coordinate their long-term plans, and to control the day-to-day flow of goods and material up and down the supply chain.

Commonly accepted definitions of supply chain management include:

➢ The management of upstream and downstream value-added flows of materials, final goods, and related information among suppliers, company, resellers, and final consumers.

➢ The systematic, strategic coordination of traditional business functions and tactics across all business functions within a particular company and across businesses within the supply chain, for the purposes of improving the long-term performance of the individual companies and the supply chain as a whole]

➢ A customer-focused definition is given by Hines (2004: p76): "Supply chain strategies require a total systems view of the links in the chain that work together efficiently to create customer satisfaction at the end point of delivery to the consumer. As a consequence, costs must be lowered throughout the chain by driving out unnecessary expenses, movements, and handling. The main focus is turned to efficiency and added value, or the end-user's perception of value. Efficiency must be increased, and bottlenecks removed. The measurement of performance focuses on total system efficiency and the equitable monetary reward distribution to those within the supply chain. The supply chain system must be responsive to customer requirements."

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➢ The integration of key business processes across the supply chain for the purpose of creating value for customers and stakeholders (Lambert, 2008)

➢ According to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), supply chain management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing, procurement, conversion, and logistics management. It also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which may be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, or customers. Supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. More recently, the loosely coupled, self- organizing network of businesses that cooperate to provide product and service offerings has been called the Extended Enterprise.

A supply chain, as opposed to supply chain management, is a set of organizations directly linked by one or more upstream and downstream flows of products, services, finances, or information from a source to a customer. Supply chain management is the management of such a chain.

Legislation

It is essential that all sales involves and records are kept and tracked appropriately according to the range of legislation that applies to supply chain management and financial transactions that taken place within a business environment.

Relevant legislation may include:

Relevant WHS/OH&S legislation Within each state there will be a range of WHS/OH&S legislation that will need to be complied with in order to ensure that all of the practices that are carried out within the entire supply chain process including the process of tracking supplies and payments within the organisation in order to ensure that all actions that are taken within the organisation are safe and compliant with WHS/OH&S laws.

Environmental Protection Legislation The environmental protection Act is imposed on all businesses in Australia to ensure that the actions of the organisation do not place undue stress or damage onto the environment. It will be necessary to ensure that all processes and practices are assessed and designed to ensure that they comply with all of the needs of the environmental protection act.

Trade Practices Act The trade practices Act has been put in place to ensure that all of the actions and transactions that take place within the marketplace are fair and just, this includes ensuing that all codes of practice and product safety and price guidelines.

Sales of Goods Act The sales of goods act is put in place to ensure that all of the products that are bought and sold within the Australian marketplace are safe and compliant with all Australian standards and requirements.

Taxation Act The taxation act is in place to ensure that all of the taxation requirements that must be complied with for each organisation can be enforced as required; this will include a range of tracking reporting and information storage and processing procedures in relation to sales and invoices within the organisation.

Financial Transaction Reports Act 1998 AUSTRAC collects and monitors all financial transaction activity within Australia, as a matter of notational security, protecting Australia’s assets, preventing money laundering, terrorism and other

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crimes such as tax evasion. All transaction must be handled, structured, processed and reported in a certain manner. All variations to this must be reasonable and will be monitored separately.

If an organisation is found to be deliberately not reporting transactions or structuring the transaction in a manner that changes its monetary value in any way, then an individual can be placed in prison for up to 2 years. Due to the serious nature of the consequences, should a transactional breach occur, there will need to be a series of monitoring activities conducted.

All transactions must be completed, and reported in accordance with legislative requirements that maybe dependent on the type of transaction. Different transactions require different levels of security, reporting and approval.

Australian contract law Australian contract law may be broadly divided into five categories

➢ Formation: dealing with the requirements for making a valid contract scope and content: dealing with identifying contractual terms and their scope

➢ Avoidance: dealing with how a party may avoid performing an otherwise valid contract (this overlaps with consumer law)

➢ Performance and termination: dealing with what is required to fully perform a contract and the other circumstances that might bring a contract to an end (including breach)

➢ Remedies: setting out the damages and other remedies that might be available to a contracting party as a result of a breach of contract by the other party.

These categories are described briefly below. More detail can be obtained by selecting from the category links to the left or from the sub-category links below.

Formation A contract is a promise or a set of promises that is legally binding. In this context a promise is an undertaking by one person to do something or refrain from doing something if another person does something or refrains from doing something or makes a promise in return. A promise or set of promises will be legally binding if certain criteria are met. In Australia this requires that there be an agreement (comprising an offer and acceptance), consideration, intention to create legal relations, compliance with any legal formalities and that the parties have the legal capacity to contract.

➢ Agreement: The first requirement for a valid contract is an agreement, which normally consists of an 'offer' and an 'acceptance' (although the parties may not articulate their arrangement in these terms) and involves a 'meeting of the minds' - or consensus - between two or more parties. Whether or not there is a consensus is determined 'objectively'.

➢ Consideration: Consideration is the price that is asked by the promisor in exchange for their promise – the price for a promise. In many jurisdictions consideration is not an essential element of a contract – it is sufficient that parties have reached a binding agreement. However, the common law requires that, for an agreement to be binding, the promisee (or promisees) must provide consideration (payment of some kind) for the promise they have received. Thus, gratuitous promises are generally not enforceable, subject to the limited exceptions.

➢ Intention: For a contract to exist the parties to an agreement must intend to create legal relations. Usually, the presence of consideration will provide evidence of this - if the promisor has specified something as the price for the promise this - in most cases - carries with it an intention that the parties be bound. Intention remains, however, an independent requirement and must be separately demonstrated and there are cases in which consideration has been present but no contract found to exist because this pre-condition has not been fulfilled. In determining if there is contractual intent and objective approach is taken.

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➢ Capacity: For a contract to exist the parties must have contractual capacity. There are certain persons and classes of persons that lack the capacity to enter into a contract with the consequence (normally) that resulting contracts will not be enforceable against them. Lack of capacity now often stems from a fear of vulnerability to exploitation. This area has become more complex as a result of statutory developments at a state level (calls for national law reform have not yet met with success) which result in a variety of different rules.

➢ Formalities: As a general rule contracts do not need to comply with any sort of formalities. Thus, while it is more difficult to prove contracts that are entirely or partly oral, this is a matter of evidence and procedure only and is not relevant to the validity of a contract. There are, however, some exceptions to the general rule, so that some contracts require essential terms to be recorded in writing and signed. These requirements generally derived from the Statute of Frauds 1677 (UK) (which still applies in WA) and were principally designed to reduce fraudulent contractual claims.

Scope and Content A contract is generally only enforceable by and against parties to the contract. This section considers the issue of privity of contract.

This section also considers the content of a contract; once formed, how do you determine what the terms of the contract are? How should the various terms by classified and how should they be interpreted in cases of ambiguity? Exclusion clauses are given special attention here.

Avoidance / Vitiating Factors A contract validly formed may nevertheless be avoided as a result of a number of possible 'vitiating factors'. Most of these involve some form of unfair or unconscionable dealing by one of the parties.

Performance and Termination Most contracts come to a natural end as a result of the parties performing their respective obligations. The requirements for 'performance' to discharge contractual obligations are discussed in this section. A contract may also come to an end by agreement between the parties or as a result of the breach of contract by one of the parties. Finally, a frustrating event might prevent parties from performing as planned and this may have the effect of terminating a contract.

Remedies Where a breach of contract has occurred the non-breaching party is entitled to remedies; in particular, they are entitled to damages as a matter of right. The procedures for determining the extent of damages available are discussed in this section. Parties may also make provision in their contract for the payment of a liquidated sum upon breach; the effect of these clauses will be discussed.

In addition to common law remedies, parties may seek the equitable remedies of specific performance or injunctions for contractual breach (or threatened breach) - these are not available as a matter of right but are awarded at the discretion of the court.

Australian consumer law

For a more detailed discussion select the relevant topic from the left hand menu. Below you will find a brief overview of each broad topic - Australia's consumer law regime is currently undergoing significant change. One major bill has already passed through Parliament and another has recently been introduced. Throughout 2010 this site will provide details of these changes.

Consumer guarantees A set of nationally consistent consumer guarantees replaced the previous set of federal, state and territory implied terms on 1 January 2011.

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Unfair terms A national unfair terms regime came into operation in 2010 which renders void unfair terms in standard form consumer contracts.

Unconscionable conduct In addition to unconscionable conduct in equity, which may vitiate a contract, statutory rules prohibiting unconscionable conduct exist. They now form part of the Australian Consumer Law.

Manufacturers' liability Contractual liability (save for special cases) extends only to parties to the contract. Consequently, consumers generally cannot sue manufacturers at common law directly. However, statute has imposed direct liability on manufacturers in some cases. These provisions now form part of the Australian Consumer Law.

Supply Chain Management Jobs Skilled logistics managers are in demand because of their ability to spot complications and create effective solutions — all in support of a company's objectives. Supply chain management professionals fulfill roles that offer a multitude of employment opportunities, which can be divided into two general areas:

1. Planning. Working in office environments, these supply chain managers are involved in areas such as inventory control, forecasting demand, and handling customer service issues.

2. Operations. Often located in distribution facilities, port terminals and operations centres, these jobs involve day-to day management of people and the flow of products.

Specific job titles fall into one of several categories; among them are:

3. Forecasting. This specialty includes supply chain analysts, planners, and project managers, who use analytical and quantitative methods to manage the supply chain process. They typically focus on performance improvements and identifying potential problems.

4. Fulfilment. Job titles include fulfilment supervisor, distribution centre supervisor or distribution team leader. They are often responsible for receiving, storing and shipping products, and typically supervise teams focused on these activities.

5. Purchasing. Roles include purchasing manager, acquisitions manager and buyer. Professionals in these positions typically direct buying activities, locate suppliers, negotiate contracts, and coordinate materials management.

6. Storage and Distribution. Known as warehouse operations managers, directors of logistics, or warehouse and delivery managers, these supply chain management professionals are skilled in inventory management; from receiving and storing goods, to filling orders across town or around the globe.

7. Customer Service. Also known as customer order managers and logistics or distribution coordinators, these professionals plan and direct activities of customer service teams, to ensure accurate orders, efficient shipments, and timely delivery of products.

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Section 1 Implement demand-driven supply chain management strategy

Supply chain strategies

Supply chain strategies generally conform to one of six types. Choose the best one for your organisation, and you'll manage your business more effectively.

Supply chains encompass the end-to-end flow of information, products, and money. For that reason, the way they are managed strongly affects an organisation's competitiveness in such areas as:

➢ product cost,

➢ working capital requirements,

➢ speed to market, and

➢ service perception.

In this context, the proper alignment of the supply chain with business strategy is essential to ensure a high level of business performance.

The four elements of supply chain strategy

Supply chain strategy defines the connection and combination of activities and functions throughout the value chain, in order to fulfil the business value proposal to customers in a marketplace.

Accordingly, an organisation's supply chain strategy is shaped by the interrelation among four main elements:

➢ the industry framework (the marketplace);

➢ the organisation's unique value proposal (its competitive positioning);

➢ its internal processes (supply chain processes); and

➢ Its managerial focus (the linkage among supply chain processes and business strategy).

➢ Although each of these elements includes multiple factors, only some of those factors are relevant drivers for the formulation of a supply chain strategy.

Industry framework.

"Industry framework" refers to the interaction of suppliers, customers, technological developments, and economic factors that affect competition in any industrial sector. Within this framework are four main drivers affecting supply chain design, all of them interrelated:

1. Demand variation, or demand profile, influences the stability and consistency of the manufacturing assets' workload, and consequently is a main driver of production efficiency and product cost.

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2. Market mediation costs. Market mediation costs, as defined by Marshall Fisher, are costs associated with the imbalance of demand and supply. Examples include product price markdowns to compensate for excess supply, and lost sales when demand exceeds supply. These costs, which reflect the unstable and fragile balance between lost sales and product obsolescence, arise from the consequences of the degree of demand predictability.

3. Product lifecycle, which is continually getting shorter in response to the speed of change in technology, fashion, and consumer product trends, affects the predictability of demand and market mediation costs. Consequently, it pushes companies to increase the speed of product development and to continuously renew their product portfolios.

4. Relevance of the cost of assets to total cost becomes critical in industrial sectors where business profits are highly correlated with the asset-utilization rate. Companies fitting this profile must assure high utilization rates, often to the detriment of working capital and service levels. In industries where the relevance of the cost of assets is low, companies may choose strategies that focus on responsiveness. In these cases, the asset-utilization rate falls between high and low, but responsiveness to unexpected demand is high, increasing customer satisfaction and reducing market mediation cost.

Unique value proposal.

The second element, the unique value proposal, requires a clear understanding of the organisation's competitive positioning in terms of its supply chain.

These concepts define, respectively, the minimum requirements for being considered as a relevant option by customers, and the performance aspects that best differentiate the company from its competitors and therefore help to win customer orders.

Recognising the main "order winners" (in terms of product features and service) in a company's value proposal allows the enterprise to shape the connection and combination of the key drivers that must be incorporated into supply chain processes in order to ensure the fulfillment of that value promise to customers.

Internal processes.

The third element, internal processes, provides an orientation that ensures a proper connection and combination within the supply chain activities that fall under the categories of source, make, and deliver.

Among the many factors encompassed by this element, the most important are asset utilisation and the location of the decoupling point. The decoupling point is the process in the value chain where a product takes on unique characteristics or specifications for a specific customer or group of customers.

There is a high degree of interdependence between these two factors, and they in turn govern other factors:

1. When the business framework is characterised by a high degree of relevance of the cost of assets to the total cost, and/or when the unique value proposal is oriented to low cost, the high utilisation of assets is mandated. Consequently, the location of the decoupling point

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should be at the end of the transformation process, or at least at the output point for the most relevant manufacturing asset in terms of cost.

2. Prior to the decoupling point, processes are "push," therefore the workload levelling is smoothed by the forecast, the production cycle tends to be long in order to increase production efficiency, and the asset-utilisation rate is high.

3. After the decoupling point, processes are "pull," therefore asset utilisation hovers around the medium level, the workload is driven by demand and is therefore highly variable, and the production cycle tends to be shorter in order to reduce the order cycle time and increase customers' positive perception of service.

4. The largest portion of the inventory, which is partially manufactured and ready to configure according to customers' requirements, is concentrated just before the decoupling point.

5. When the decoupling point is located farthest from the customer's end of the supply chain, product customization increases, therefore demand buffering should be supported by excess capacity. In addition, collaborative relationships with customers become more useful because they help to reduce demand uncertainty.

6. When the decoupling point is located toward the customer's end, product customization diminishes. Consequently, the minimum size of the order does not depend on the size of the manufacturing batch, and minimum order size is governed by the relevance of transportation cost to the total cost.

Managerial focus.

It is important to explain the linkage and alignment between an organisation's competitive positioning and its supply chain processes. The connection between these two areas is governed by the decision-making process and is driven by the supply chain's managerial focus.

This focus is the most important factor in ensuring coherence between supply chain execution and a business's unique value proposal. This approach encourages companies to focus on seeking local efficiencies that may conflict with their value proposal to customers, thus creating misalignment between the supply chain and business strategy.

Six generic supply chain models

Once a company understands the factors driving its business, then it can determine which of six common supply chain models identified by the Supply Chain Roadmap best matches those criteria. These six are grouped in two categories:

supply chain models that are oriented to efficiency,

Supply chains that are oriented to responsiveness.

Supply chains oriented to efficiency

In industries where the value proposal is oriented toward low cost and/or high relevance of asset utilisation to total cost, end-to-end efficiency is a must. Examples of such industries include cement, steel, paper, commodities, and low-cost fashion, among others.

They are best suited to one of three supply chain types—"efficient," "fast," and "continuous-flow"— that are best able to maximize asset utilisation:

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The "Efficient" Supply Chain Model

The efficient supply chain is best suited to industries that are characterised by intense market competition, with several competitors fighting for the same group of customers who may not perceive major differences in their value proposals. In effect, competition is virtually always based almost solely on price.

Because customers in these commoditised businesses take an opportunistic approach to purchasing in order to ensure that

they get the best price for each order, it results in a demand profile with recurrent peaks.

A continuous-replenishment model is inappropriate. Production should instead be scheduled based on sales expectations for the length of the production cycle, using a model based on a "make to forecast" decoupling point. Competitive positioning, therefore, depends on offering the best price and perfect order fulfillment.

Managers should focus on promoting maximum end-to-end efficiency. There are two main actions they can take to accomplish this.

First, they should ensure high rates of asset utilisation coupled with high overall equipment efficiency (OEE) in order to reduce cost.

Second, they should ensure high levels of forecast accuracy to guarantee product availability and consequently, perfect order fulfillment.

This supply chain model is well suited for businesses with commoditised products, such as cement and steel.

The "Fast" Supply Chain Model The fast supply chain is best for companies that produce trendy products with a short lifecycle.

From the customer's perspective, the main difference among competitors' value proposals is how well they are able to update product portfolios in accordance with the latest trends. This focuses competition in the market on manufacturers' ability to continuously develop new products they can sell at an affordable price.

Production should be scheduled in a single batch per SKU, with its size defined by sales expectations for the sales season (or collection, in the fashion industry), using a model based on a "make to forecast" decoupling point.

As the product line's sales season becomes shorter, it gets more difficult to produce a second batch of the bestselling products from the collection and replenish it to stores before the product goes out of fashion and consumers no longer want to buy it.

Management should focus on promoting continuous portfolio renewal, which is supported by three main capabilities:

➢ short time from idea to market,

➢ maximum levels of forecast accuracy in order to reduce market mediation cost,

➢ end-to-end efficiency to ensure affordable costs for customers.

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Examples of companies that benefit from this supply chain model include those that engage in catalogue sales. Companies in this industry segment typically launch new marketing campaigns every three or four weeks, and each catalogue may refresh more than 50 percent of the SKUs featured. It's also appropriate for retailers that sell trendy apparel and whose customers tend to visit stores monthly. These retailers need to update their stores' SKU portfolio every few weeks so loyal customers see a fresh image at each visit.

The "continuous-flow" supply chain model The main features of the continuous-flow supply chain model are supply and demand stability, with processes scheduled in such a way as to ensure a steady cadence and continuous flow of information and products.

This model typically is for a very mature supply chain with a customer demand profile that has little variation. Consequently, the production workload can match demand through a continuous-replenishment model based on:

"make to stock" decoupling point,

where production is scheduled to replenish predefined stock levels based on a specified reorder point for inventory in the production cycle.

Accordingly, competitive positioning is based on offering a continuous-replenishment system to customers in order to assure high service levels and low inventory levels at customers' facilities, thus achieving optimization of costs associated with inventory.

Management should focus on promoting supply chain collaboration, which is supported by three main capabilities. In the early stages, they include electronic transactions that are used to reduce the number of transactional processes required during the order cycle, as well as the sharing of sales and inventory information to improve the ability to predict demand. In the most mature stage, collaborative planning with key customers helps to anticipate demand patterns.

This supply chain model typically works well for businesses with short-shelf-life products, such as dairy products and bread. It is also suitable for manufacturers of intermediate products, such as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts for assembly.

Supply chains oriented to responsiveness

Industries that face considerable demand uncertainty, where market mediation cost is highly relevant, should employ one of three different supply chain approaches that are oriented toward providing capacity in response to changes in demand. These include the "agile," "custom- configured," and "flexible" models.

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The "agile" supply chain model. The agile type of supply chain is useful for companies that manufacture products under unique specifications for each customer.

This is typically seen in industries that are characterised by unpredictable demand. They use:

"make to order" decoupling point,

producing the item after receiving the customer's purchase order to avoid manufacturing products that have no certainty of future sales.

As a result, the main driver of competitiveness is agility—the ability to meet unpredictable demand, in quantities exceeding the customer's forecast and/or within a shorter lead time than agreed.

The ability to be agile is proportional to the ratio between excess capacity and the average rate of asset usage. In strict terms, there can be no agility without excess capacity.

Management should focus on ensuring agility, which is supported by two main capabilities: excess capacity, and products and processes designed to produce the smallest possible batches.

Generally, this type of supply chain is employed by manufacturers of intermediary goods that make products for industrial customers according to each customer's specific needs, and by companies whose industrial customers place a high value on short lead times. This strategy is useful for industries where the company's value proposal is oriented toward offering products "on demand" and with a high service level, such as packaging, chemical specialties, and metal machining services, among others.

The "custom-configured" supply chain model The custom-configured supply chain model is characterised by a high degree of relevance of the cost of assets to the total cost, and multiple (potentially unlimited) configurations of the finished product on a unique platform.

Competitive positioning is founded on offering a unique configuration of the finished product according to the end consumer's needs. Unlike in an agile supply chain, where the product can be customised to meet virtually any customer requirement—limited only by technical constraints—in this supply chain, the product is configurable within a limited combination of product specifications, usually by combining parts into a set or assembly.

Usually, product configuration is accomplished during an assembly process, where some of the parts are mounted or assembled according to an individual customer's requirements. However, product configuration may be done in other types of processes, such as mixing, packaging, and printing, among others. As a general rule, the processes before product configuration are lengthier than the configuration itself and the downstream processes.

Because of the nearly unlimited number of possible finished products resulting from multiple combinations of parts or materials, it is practically impossible to make an accurate forecast.

Other complicating factors include the finite number of materials or pieces, and the fact that processes that occur prior to configuration are scheduled according to a forecast or a continuous- replenishment model, depending on the variability of the demand profile.

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One example of where this supply chain strategy makes sense is the assembly of personalised products, such as computers and vehicles. Another example is in the paper manufacturing industry, where the decoupling point occurs after the manufacture of the big paper rolls, and the products are customized in the cutting and packaging process. In the service sector, some fast food restaurants apply this supply chain model.

The "flexible" supply chain

The sixth supply chain type, the flexible model, is suited for companies that must meet unexpected

demand and therefore are faced with high demand peaks and long periods of low workload.

This supply chain model is characterised by adaptability, which is the capability to reconfigure

internal processes in order to meet a customer's specific need or solve a customer's problem.

This model typically is used by service companies that focus on handling unexpected situations,

perhaps even including emergencies. Due to the nature of such events, customers appreciate not only

the speed of a supplier's response, but also its ability to tailor solutions to their needs.

Consequently, the price becomes largely irrelevant to the customer.

Management should focus on ensuring flexibility, which is supported by four main capabilities:

➢ extra capacity of critical resources,

➢ rapid-response capability,

➢ technical strengths in process and product engineering, and

➢ process flow that is designed to be quickly reconfigurable.

A typical example of this type of supply chain can be found in companies that provide metalworking and machining services for the manufacture of spare parts for industrial customers.

This type of company may encounter emergency situations such as the need to immediately replace broken parts. Accordingly, they must be able to provide a fast response and sufficient capacity to develop unique parts by combining successive processes, such as turning, reaming, and welding, in a configuration adapted to a specific situation.

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Simultaneous capabilities or multiple supply chains?

Organisations tend to want their supply chains to have simultaneous capabilities:

➢ efficient,

➢ fast,

➢ agile,

➢ custom-configured, and

➢ flexible, among others.

Yet each of these capabilities requires different skills, and in the majority of cases, these skill sets are incompatible within the same supply chain.

However, it is possible to develop several parallel supply chains within a single organisation, each focused on a defined market segment with a responsiveness level and a cost structure that are appropriate to the segment it serves.

The most powerful benefits of the "Supply Chain Roadmap" arise from its ability to help demystify the process of formulating supply chain strategy. This makes it possible to select the supply chain type that best fits a particular business segment.

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Section 2 Manage supply chain

Supply Chain Management

Enabling recognises the challenges of wholesalers, including selling to the fiercely competitive retail industry; that is why we have Wholesale Trade experts who understand the sector and can help your business get ahead with financial, process, and customer management via a fully integrated Supply Chain Management Systems that provide your company with a competitive advantage.

Enabling's, Supply Chain Management Systems allow you to meet your customer demands more effectively and efficiently. Our Supply Chain Management Systems give you the ability to quickly and effectively process orders to ensure customer needs are understood and addressed quickly. Our Supply Chain Management Systems will also provide your business with the flexibility to respond to ever changing customer demands and market trends.

Benefits of an integrated Supply Chain Management Systems include;

Lower Costs –

By adding an effective SCM system to a business, the added global efficiency can lead to lower costs of raw materials. This system efficiently plans for materials to be brought to your company from the lowest cost provider possible and at just the right time to ensure there is no excess or deficiency in the material. A SCM system can improve your company's relationship with vendors so that there are opportunities to cut costs like through a volume discount.

Improved Collaboration –

A SCM system wired in to the latest software allows you to know the position your raw materials and your finished products are in by tracking both your suppliers and your distributors. These companies can also track where you are at in receiving or sending those materials. This knowledge can keep relationships between these businesses strong. This system often includes the development of reports on how the chain of goods progresses from supplier through distributor. These reports help your businesses to determine potential areas of improvement.

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Cycle Times –

The cycle time can be defined as the time it takes your business to turn over a product from raw materials, give it to your distributor to sell and then make enough money to purchase new raw products to start the cycle over. If at any point it takes too long to obtain these raw materials, production may have to stop which will slow down your organisation. A SCM system improves cycle times and ensures that raw materials are provided when your business needs them so that you never have to stop production.

Response to Conflict –

Unfortunately, a business cannot always run smoothly and there are a number of factors that can lead to problems in the production of a product. If an issue occurs with the suppliers of your company, you may have to change how you produce your product. If the distributor goes out of business, you will have to find another way to sell the product. A SCM system lets your company better cope with problems at either side of the production spectrum. You can quickly and easily figure out a response to the problem instead of being surprised by it at a later time.

What do we really mean by supply chain management?

The management of upstream and downstream relationships with suppliers and customers to deliver superior customer value at less cost to the supply chain as a whole. The standpoint that logistics management is more internal than supply chain management strikes me as somewhat strange given that integration between different players has always been fundamental to logistics management.

SCM is what you make of it

All of these variations and the lack of clarity in the definition lead to the conclusion that SCM is what you make of it; in other words, it can involve anything, depending on the situation. In that view, it is hardly a new theory, nor is it a new scientific field.

Leaving aside the discussion of the proper definition of SCM and its relationship to logistics for a moment, let's look more closely at the concept itself and its possible advantages. The supply chain concept extends to include a focus on production and involves both the supply and distribution sides of the company. As the chain expands, the distance between the manufacturer and the end consumer increases, both geographically and from an operational point of view. At the same time, there is a strong trend toward more and more customer-oriented products and production, which requires close relationships between suppliers and customers.

This trend points out the need for a form of supply chain or, more generally, a system for integration and closer relationships. But is the "supply chain" concept the solution to this challenge? A chain of companies is only a part of a whole, complex system. There has to be a focus on all of the relationships and the dependencies, which is a big challenge indeed.

Currently, SCM research is dominated by information technology (IT)-related projects that often involve IT-based modeling and simulation. As a result, SCM consultants and researchers are building models in one limited field, often without a deeper knowledge of established theory, practical usefulness, economic benefits, or the effects of their developments on the system as a whole.

In today's world, businesses are shaped by complexity, fast-changing conditions, and constant development. This causes instability in many respects, but is this situation really new? Have not people in all periods of history thought that their own times were more dynamic and more

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changeable than any before them? Today, however, we can better predict change than we could in the past. This means that we can control development and that the rate of development is low today compared to previous periods.

Companies are trying to respond to dynamic developments and complexity, striving to achieve stability and to carry out operations more efficiently. The goal of IT development, to a great extent, is to create a better (which often means simpler and easier) way to conduct business.

In this dynamic world, we create new theories and new concepts such as supply chain management. What are the criteria for the new theories, and how are new conceptions related to them? Sometimes it seems that the degree of popularity—how often it is used, mentioned, or referred to— is the determining factor.

What does supply chain management software do?

Supply chain management software is possibly the most fractured group of software applications on the planet. Each of the five major supply chain steps previously outlined is comprised of dozens of specific tasks, many of which have their own specific software. Some vendors have assembled many of these different chunks of software together under a single roof, but no one has a complete package that is right for every company. For example, most companies need to track demand, supply, manufacturing status, logistics (i.e. where things are in the supply chain), and distribution. They also need to share data with supply chain partners at an ever increasing rate. While products from large ERP vendors like SAP's Advanced Planner and Optimiser (APO) can perform many or all of these tasks, because each industry's supply chain has a unique set of challenges, many companies decide to go with targeted best of breed products instead, even if some integration is an inevitable consequence.

It's worth mentioning that the old adage about systems only being as good as the information that they contain applies doubly to SCM. If the information entered into a demand forecasting application is not accurate, then you will get an inaccurate forecast. Similarly, if employees bypass the supply chain systems and try to manage things manually (using the fax machine or spreadsheets), then even the most expensive systems will provide an incomplete picture of what is happening in a company's supply chain.

What is the goal of installing supply chain management software?

Before the Internet came along, the aspirations of supply chain software devotees were limited to improving their ability to predict demand from customers and make their own supply chains run more smoothly.

But the cheap, ubiquitous nature of the Internet, along with its simple, universally accepted communication standards, have thrown things wide open. Now, companies can connect their supply chain with the supply chains of their suppliers and customers together in a single vast network that optimises costs and opportunities for everyone involved.

Today most companies share at least some data with their supply chain partners. The goal of these projects is greater supply chain visibility.

The supply chain in most industries is like a big card game: the players don't want to show their cards because they don't trust anyone else with the information, but if they showed their hands they could all benefit:

Suppliers wouldn't have to guess how many raw materials to order, and

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Manufacturers wouldn't have to order more than they need from suppliers to make sure they have enough on hand if demand for their products unexpectedly increases.

Retailers would have fewer empty shelves if they shared the information they had about sales of a manufacturer's product in all their stores with the manufacturer.

The Internet makes showing your hand to others possible, but centuries of distrust and lack of coordination within industries make it difficult. During the last few years most companies have gotten over the trust issue.

The payoff of timely and accurate supply chain information is the ability to make or ship only as much of a product as there is a market for. This is the practice known as just-in-time manufacturing, and it allows companies to reduce the amount of inventory that they keep. This can cut costs substantially, since you no longer need to pay to produce and store excess goods.

Supply Chain Collaboration

Any enterprise with serious global ambitions realised that to compete globally meant they needed to effectively source globally.

With the complexity brought on by rapidly expanding supply chain networks, expanding global markets for finished products, and facilities around the world supporting those growing markets, it has become absolutely essential to the optimal performance of supply chains that all involved parties are completely committed to frictionless supply chain collaboration.

Levels of Collaboration

Effective collaboration with supply chain partners requires that your organisation share valuable information in real time. You are trying to create, through near-transparent communication, a network of collaborators to act as an extension of your efforts to get the right product to the right customer in the right market at the exact time they want and need it. Sounds simple, right?

What kinds of collaboration are we talking about? According to Supply Chain Digest, there are three general levels of supply chain collaboration.

Level 1: Transaction integration.

This involves the automation of business processes and transactions, using EDI, the Internet, or proprietary tools. At the execution level, you and your partners exchange transactional data such as:

➢ Purchase orders, work orders and sales orders

➢ POS information

➢ Invoices

➢ Credit and debit notes

➢ Payments

Level 2: Supply chain management information sharing.

EDI, the Internet, or proprietary tools are used at this level to give partners information that helps them make the best decisions. Types of information being shared include:

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➢ Production or component forecasts

➢ Production and transportation plans and capacities

➢ Bills of material (BOMs)

➢ Orders

➢ Product descriptions

➢ Prices and promotions

➢ Inventory

➢ Allocations

➢ Product and material availability

➢ Service levels

➢ Contract terms, such as supply capacity, inventory, and services

Level 3: Strategic collaboration.

At this level you and your partners are taking part in joint planning, process redesign, as well as sharing some level of risk and reward. You will be making collaborative decisions on issues like:

➢ Improving the accuracy of forecasts

➢ Strengthening strategic supply chain relationships and profitability

➢ Enhancing sales and operations planning

➢ Accelerating and managing demand plans, direct material procurement and fulfillment throughout the supply chain

➢ Resolving critical supply chain events

➢ Production capacities

➢ Production facility and fulfillment network expansion

➢ Pricing plans

Benefits of Supply Chain Collaboration

“Knowledge is power,” as they say, and in the case of supply chain collaboration, sharing of information leads to enhanced knowledge across the chain that allows you to achieve:

➢ Lower inventory levels and higher inventory turns

➢ Lower transportation and warehousing costs

➢ Lower out-of-stock levels

➢ Shorter lead times

➢ Improved customer service metrics

➢ Visibility into customer demand and supplier performance

➢ Earlier and quicker decision-making

Transparency and collaboration can be difficult to execute, but well worth the effort when you consider the potential reduction in risk and costs, and improvement in customer satisfaction and loyalty. A recent survey of roughly 1,000 supply chain executives found that organisations that

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engaged with suppliers at any of the levels described above were 38% more likely to achieve or surpass their expectations and have their initiatives result in cost reductions. (2012 survey by Deloitte, in conjunction with ASQ, Institute for Supply Management, and Corporate Responsibility Officer Association)

Collaborate in areas where you have a solid footing. Companies are often tempted to use collaboration as a way to fill gaps in their own capabilities. In practice, the most successful collaborations build on strengths rather than compensating for weaknesses. Potential collaborators should also be sure they have the right supporting infrastructure in place in advance of any collaborative effort.

Is top management committed to the collaboration process and ready to offer support over the long term?

Is in-house information technology (IT) systems robust enough to facilitate real-time data sharing if required?

Turn win-lose situations into win-win opportunities with the right benefit-sharing model. Some collaborations promise equal benefits for both parties. If, for example, a manufacturer and a retailer collaborate to optimise product mix, both could expect to benefit from the resulting increase in sales.

Rather than shying away from such asymmetric collaborations, smart companies can make them work by agreeing on more sophisticated benefit-sharing models. These can come in the form of discounts or price increases to more fairly share increased margins or cost reductions, or they can involve compensation in other parts of the relationship.

Invest in the right infrastructure and people. Best-practice companies devote extra resources to their collaborations, particularly in the early stages of a new relationship. Appropriate infrastructure for a successful collaboration begins at the top of the organisation, with a steering committee of senior leaders who can set the defining vision for the collaborative effort and allocate resources to support it. The detailed design of the collaboration program is then completed by a team comprising members of all relevant functions from both partners in the collaboration. The team for a demand-planning effort, for example, should include members from sales, finance, and supply chain for the manufacturer, and from purchasing, merchandising, and store operations for the retailer. This team will also be responsible for the day-to-day monitoring of the effort once it is up and running.

Establish a robust, joint performance-management system. An effective performance-management system helps a company to ensure that any long-term project is on track and delivering the results it should. In supply chain collaboration efforts, both participants should use the same performance-management system. By building common metrics and targets—and jointly monitoring progress—companies avoid the misaligned incentives that damage so many collaboration efforts.

Collaborate for the long term. The final vital ingredient of a successful collaboration is stamina. It may take time and effort to overcome the initial hurdles and make a new collaboration work. Both parties need to recognise this and build an appropriately long-term perspective into their goals and expectations for the collaboration. When companies take a long-term perspective, their collaborative efforts can become a virtuous circle:

➢ A greater understanding of each other's capabilities, knowledge, and costs will often reveal new potential sources of value, while the experience of working closely together means that later initiatives will take less time and be easier to execute than early ones.

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Section 3 Evaluate and improve supply chain effectiveness

How to Evaluate, Improve & Manage a Supply Chain Management Solution

Defining Your Requirements and Expectations

Effective decisions regarding your supply chain operation begin with an analysis of your requirements and expectations. This analysis should occur at three levels:

The Operational Level Cost-effective fulfillment of your inbound and outbound freight transportation; service times; delivery requirements; mode and resource optimisation; management of fuel surcharges; and staffing your shipping and receiving functions.

The Tactical Level Optimising freight flow for multiple facilities (if applicable); evaluating suppliers on a total-cost basis; managing peak periods of inbound and outbound activity; and developing supply chain visibility throughout your organisation.

The Enterprise Level Designing a supply chain operation that supports and advances corporate objectives; benchmarking the supply chain operation; comprehensive freight spend management; calculating the impact and cost of the logistics operation on other departments; implementing effective reporting tools for management; and determining whether to insource or outsource each supply chain function.

Benchmarking Your Current Operation

Is your current supply chain operation meeting your requirements and expectations? Where are the opportunities for improvement? Benchmarking your current operation answers these questions and more.

Effective benchmarking evaluates the following:

➢ Transportation pricing (ideally broken down by mode, length of haul, and other key factors)

➢ Service requirements

➢ Transit times

➢ Fuel surcharges

➢ Accessorial fees

➢ Resource utilization

➢ Transportation management processes and technologies

➢ Impact on departments and core processes throughout your organisation

When organisations take the time to assess their operation, the benefits include consensus building toward a shared vision, clarification of strengths and weaknesses, and a better understanding whether outsourcing can bring value to the operation.

Effective outsourcing firms will help benchmark your operation without cost or obligation. If you choose to partner with a firm, it will measure its performance against the benchmarks to validate its value to your organisation. Be sure you understand the methodologies used to benchmark your current operations, and confirm that the benchmarking is accurate. Confidence in the benchmarks is necessary to trust the performance value reporting.

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Evaluating Your Choices Capabilities, Competencies, and Highest Total Value

Match your benchmarks against the requirements and expectations for your supply chain operation. This reveals areas to target for improvement. At this point, a decision can be made to:

➢ maintain the current operation,

➢ make improvements internally,

➢ or seek a partner to achieve the desired improvements.

If improvements are desired, the next step is to identify resources with the capabilities to achieve them. Look inward first.

Does your organisation already have the necessary capabilities? If not, can they reasonably be acquired?

Look outward as well and evaluate the capabilities available from outsourced partners. Specialisation within the logistics industry offers shippers new options for strengthening supply chain operations, from niche providers that specialize in very narrow aspects of the transportation process to turnkey partners that offer a comprehensive portfolio of supply chain management services.

Some key issues to consider when evaluating your options include:

Whether an internal investment supports or opposes your corporate mission and strategies.

The direct and indirect costs of implementing an internal solution as well as a partnership solution.

How the partnership solutions compare to one another?

The competency of each prospective partner.

How the best partnership solutions compare to an internal solution?

1. The overall expected benefit from each solution under consideration. 2. When evaluating partners, compare their key offerings carefully. 3. Evaluating Your Choices Capabilities, Competencies, and Highest Total Value 4. How to Evaluate, Improve & Manage a Supply Chain Management Solution 5. Services can differ significantly from one provider to the next.

Take shipment management, for example. Most providers offer a passive system that simply forwards each load tender to the selected resource. However, a few providers actively manage shipments from tender to delivery. This is a labor-intensive process that cannot be fully automated. But it delivers a much higher value to the client by flagging nonconformities sooner and offering multiple options for addressing them.

The final step at this stage is to rank your options and select a course of action. Be sure to seek out the solution that provides the highest total value to your unique situation. It is a common mistake to overlook the indirect costs and benefits of each option. Ultimately, the most effective solution usually is the one that streamlines your supply chain operation and brings value to all the areas of your organisation affected by transportation.

Obtain “Buy in” and Manage Change

Companies implement enterprise-wide supply chain management systems for the significant benefits that can result in terms of efficiency, cost savings, quality improvements, and customer service. Often, however, organisations focus on the technical and strategic aspects of their initiatives while neglecting the importance of stakeholder engagement. This oversight puts the implementation at risk. Ultimately, success hinges on participation throughout the enterprise.

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Support from senior leadership is critical to the success of any plan for improvement, especially a comprehensive plan that streamlines processes at the enterprise level across functional groups.

Stakeholders will have differing and sometimes conflicting interests. Senior leadership support establishes expectations and unites these disparate perspectives behind shared objectives.

A cross-functional implementation team can also be an effective change management tool. The team gives each department an advocate in the implementation process. Additionally, it may yield new efficiencies as team members identify opportunities for add-on improvements.

Before starting the implementation process, consider developing a prioritised schedule of deliverables and establishing clear service level targets. These tools will communicate senior leadership expectations and guide the implementation process toward a successful result.

Implement a Successful Improvement Plan

Successful implementation begins with a commitment from senior leadership and stakeholder buy- in. The next step is a detailed implementation roadmap. Time invested in planning the implementation pays off by keeping the transformation on schedule, seamless to your business, and on target with your objectives.

One key benefit of working with an outsourcing partner is its implementation experience. A well- chosen partner will be eager to collaborate on the implementation roadmap. It may even take the lead in developing the roadmap. This experience can contribute significantly toward a seamless and successful implementation.

Consider developing a prioritised schedule of deliverables and establishing clear service level targets. These tools will communicate senior leadership expectations and guide the implementation process toward a successful result.

As the implementation unfolds, monitor the process and compare the results against the roadmap and your objectives. Some tweaks and corrections will likely be needed along the way. (In fact, a good implementation roadmap includes steps for identifying and fixing divergences from the planned results.)

How to Ensure Long-Term Success

Once the improvement plan has been implemented and the planned results have been achieved, focus shifts to maintaining the gains made. This is accomplished in two steps:

Performance management:

Establish a system to track the key performance metrics achieved by your improvement plan.

The metrics must be prioritised, measurable, achievable, and indicative of the total value contribution to your organisation.

Additionally, a comprehensive set of metrics goes beyond cost to include productivity, performance, quality, and customer service.

Analyse any degradation in your key performance metrics for root cause identification and correction.

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Opportunity analysis. Periodically evaluate your transportation management system for new opportunities for improvement. Changes to your organisation and the logistics industry often open possibilities to become more efficient.

An effective outsourced partner will share your commitment to the long-term success of your supply chain management system. Services will include:

➢ Measuring and reporting key logistics metrics (including any user-defined metrics) ➢ Ongoing performance reviews ➢ Analysing opportunities for further improvements to your supply chain management system

Conclusion

The expanding logistics landscape presents opportunities to get more value than ever before from your supply chain operation. You can capitalise by making thoughtful and informed decisions about what you want from your operation and who can best fulfil your requirements.

Effective decisions regarding your supply chain operation begin with an analysis of your requirements and expectations. Benchmarking your current operation will inform you how well it is performing and what opportunities are available.

If a decision is made to target improvements, make the most of the change.

Successful supply chain solutions take an outcome-based approach and optimise the total value provided to the organisation, rather than focusing purely on cost reduction. They integrate with your core business in a way that maximizes the overall benefit to you.

Effective outsourced partners have the ability and desire to collaborate on a supply chain management system best suited to your unique requirements. This means they optimise your supply chain management system rather than conform it to a generically-marketed solution.

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Congratulations!

You have completed you Learners Guide for: TLIL5055 - Manage a Supply Chain.

Acknowledgements: Details and information for this Text were obtained from:

What is Supply Chain Management? Published on: 11 Jan 2011. By: Robert Handfield, Ph.D.

https://scm.ncsu.edu/scm-articles/article/what-is-supply-chain-management

Six steps to successful supply chain collaboration

http://www.supplychainquarterly.com/topics/Strategy/20120622-six-steps-to-successful-supply- chain-collaboration/

How to Evaluate, Improve & Manage a Supply Chain Management Solution

www.utsnet.com/files/pages/Evaluate_Improve_Manage_a_TMS.pdf

Supply Chain Collaboration

http://www.supplytechnologies.com/blog/the-importance-of-supply-chain-collaboration