LB5230 The Supply Chain

The company manufacturing shovel through various processes. It is integral to analyse all these processes that goes into manufacturing for shovel which forms the basis for its supply chain structure (Council, 2008). The structure will allow determining the multi-layer framework through which manufacturing of the shovel takes place. The structure of the supply chain for the Company, which is into manufacturing of shovels, includes the following.

Demand forecasting: The Company makes use of software for the purpose of demand forecasting. Demand forecasting is done in accordance with the past trends and predicting future demands in manufacturing and other industries.

Supplier of Raw Material: There are three distinct suppliers, which provides raw materials for the final product, shovel. Supplier for rubber grips, bolts and that for metal socket and grip.

Warehouse Management: All raw materials are transported by suppliers and are stored in warehouse of the company, from which they are taken into batches for manufacturing.

• Production and Assembly: The plant present within the company makes product assembly by using of various processes. This helps make the final product.
• Inventory Management: Once the final product is made, then the products are shifted into inventory from where they are transported in batches to various different retailers and distributors.
• Transportation and Delivery: The product is packed in huge cartons and then shipped to various retailers and distributors of the product.
• Retailers, Dealers & Distributors: The retailers, dealers and distributors of the products receive finished products from the company and then sell it to their final customers at a margin.
• Customers: The final customers of the product are building workers, contractors, gardeners and retail customers as well.
• Repairs & Returns: The Company provides opportunity for returns and repairs in case of default products.

The below diagrammatic representation depicts the multi-tier supply chain structure for manufacturing of shovel for the company.

Upstream and Downstream Structure

The activities that are performed within the supply chain comprises of upstream and downstream processes. The supply chain focuses on the assembly plant and raw material suppliers, which are not, processed materials at the top of the production chain. For example, metals such as aluminum and copper are raw materials. At the beginning of the deal there could be managers who study these materials for ordering (Zhou, Benton Jr, Schilling & Milligan, 2011). Assume the materials are good but not manual.

The upstream processes comprises of all processes that is required for the final product in reaching the market. It encompasses contractors, dealers, suppliers, manufacturers and so on.  Dealers, suppliers and sales outlets, such as wholesalers and retailers, are far from being merged. An important consideration is the inventory. Retailers, wholesalers and distributors try to provide the necessary business opportunities to make orders to their customers. When the operation is slow, distributors deliver orders on time.

When the command cannot be performed in a timely manner the operation ends. In downstream customer supply chain analysis is conducted, whereas upstream the supplier’s supply chain. The suppliers for raw materials to the company, further receives their supplies from certain suppliers. Such as the supplier providing the company with bolts and other metal parts gets raw material iron from some supplier. The supplier which provides the rubber handle gets its rubber from another supplier.

Thus, the company needs to ensure that information flows dynamically through its entire supply chain processes such that it is able to manufacture without much interruptions. Integration of upstream and downstream supply chain is especially integral in case of a multi-tier supply chain framework. The company needs to identify and diagnose some of the uncertainties and risks which might disrupt its supply chain processes.         

Supply Chain Uncertainty & Inventory

Supply chain process and demand are uncertain and has a significant impact on production function. Uncertainty grows through the network and leads to inefficient processing and added disability. This uncertainty is based upon clients and number of products. The spread of uncertainty stimulates the decision to create protective strategies over time, capacity or inventory to avoid poor performance. The definition of the temporal uncertainty chain is based. Five requirements for effective system management as per De Leon (2000). If one or more of these requirements do not exist manufacturers can make personalized decisions on the supply chain.

Experience the uncertainty that is ineffective as the administrative system is intended for similar presentation indicators to direct the supply the chain in the right direction. It is necessary to evaluate future stocks. Any inflated stock need to be evaluated and then appropriate demand forecasting has to be formed. Information on the environment and the current time chain way can provide significant advantage to the supply chain. Data processing should be sufficient to provide the ability to manage environmental and environmental information. State of the production chain needs to be determined as well. In order to guide the controlled system to the supply chain managers need be able to evaluate alternative strategies. This requires a model system to show the connections of an available redesign. Variables and performance indicators have to be determined as well for the wide-ranging monitoring measures should be sufficient.

Supply Chain Consideration & Suggestions for Improvement

The entire supply chain that has been depicted in the above processes has to be taken into consideration (Foster Jr, 2008). Then possible strategies that might allow the company overcome its supply chain risks have to be adopted by the company. Some of the key supply chain considerations that the company has to undertake include;

• Bullwhip Effect: In a growing supply chain on average, there are between six and seven layers between end customers and raw material suppliers. Everyone strives to protect themselves from losing customer inventories and orders by providing additional supplies to protect themselves from changing supply chains. This results in large reserves of up to six months between customers and raw material suppliers. Positive effects ultimately lead to uncertainties for manufacturers with higher production, so that estimates that lead to higher inventories are less accurate (Sarkis, Zhu & Lai, 2011). Every industry especially in manufacturing of shovel has unique supply chains, warehouses and complexities. After standardization, the number of inventions can fall from 10% to 30% and the case between 15% and 35%. In order to overcome bullwhip effect, the first and most important step to improve is to identify the existence of a whip effect. Many companies do not realize that there are large volumes throughout the supply chain. View items that are not actively saved Supply chain managers can investigate sources of excess inventory, find excuses, and set standards. Another strategy includes improving the warehouse planning process. Inventory planning is a good combination of historical demand trends, future demand, new product launches, and longer product cancellations. The adjustment of the guarantee deposits and the minimum inventory must be duly assessed and corrected. Stocks are available throughout the network.
• The storage system and the early warning should be used in case of large deviations from the given storage standards. Improve the resource planning process. Purchasing managers often order in advance. Raw material planning must be directly related to the production plan under general production conditions. The basis for a large number of suppliers to improve delivery and delivery reliability. This leads to a decline in raw material stocks. Collaboration and information exchange between managers. There may be contradictory goals between purchasing managers, production managers, logistics managers and sales managers.
• By prioritizing shared connections, the evaluation of performance goals improves collaboration between different departments. Regular and structured departmental meetings will also improve information sharing and decision-making. Optimize minimum order quantities and offer stable prices. Some products have a high minimum order quantity for end users. Create more order templates. Prices are stable for a year, not frequent and predictable issues.
• Risk Management: Risk management in the chain supply chain addresses the risk of complex and dynamic supply and demand networks. As in this case, there are considerable risks identified across multi-tier systems within the supply chain. Risk management in the supply chain involves presentation methods for managing daily and unusual supply risks based on ongoing risk assessment to reduce vulnerability and ensure continuity. In other words, SCRM should use risk management tools, supply chain companies or one to solve the risks and uncertainties that arise or affect the chain or delivery process. SCRM attempts to reduce supply chain vulnerability with a coordinated global perspective that includes the actors supply chain that identifies and identifies risk factors for transmission errors.
• The supply chain consists of unpredictable natural falsification risks that ensure quality, safety, vitality and productivity. Risk management plans may include transport, data security, and finance and risk management. The ultimate goal is to ensure continuity in the supply chain in the event of a scenario that would otherwise have fallen from normal transactions and profitability. Sometimes, supply chain optimization, such as supply chain optimization, may be the risk of contingency plans that would otherwise reduce overall supply chain risk. It is also more common for companies, especially manufacturers, to use a good software vendor to integrate all levels in the supply chain. This method increases transparency, reduces costs and improves operating efficiency.
• Risk Pooling: The combination of risks begins in the chain of supply chain development and management. According to the statistical concept, which shows that demand volatility is declining with increasing demand, place, product, or time can be added (Wang, Chan & Pauleen, 2010). It is a statistical expression that shows that aggregation reduces differences and uncertainty. Adding an app to multiple locations may most likely meet the customer's request to resolve additional issues. Reducing volatility will lower security inventory and reduce average inventory. Thus, through risk polling the demand for shovels can be aggregated across varied locations.
• Sustainability: Supply chain management is an indispensable part of a business operation. Knowing the environmental, social and economic impacts and the continued existence of its suppliers and customers is becoming more commonplace as all industries are on their way to a more sustainable future. It is likely that the president of the government is the driving force behind this change, but has tried to regulate the supply and livelihood business. One of the ways in which a company works is the contempt for the entire product process, which uses raw materials that are taken over by the entire process. In the current case, the company can make use of raw materials sourced in sustainable manners. Moreover, the company can optimize use of its transport in bets possible ways.
• Quality Management: Quality management is essential in supply chains. As any changes or disruptions into the raw material might affect the final product’s quality. This might lead to customer dissatisfaction, who in turn might want to sway away to another company’s shovel product. As competition in Australian companies producing shovel is immensely high, consumer switching costs is low.  
• Technology Enablers: The Company can make use of technology enablers such as RFID for tracing of its products. RFID technologies are very well known and have immense applicability across manufacturing industries. In the current scope, it can allow the present company y to save its costs by tracking customer orders or in stopping production at any time.
• Supply chain management: Managing of the entire supply chain along with logistics is the key to having effective multi-tier supply chain systems. In the current production management, the company needs to design product in a manner such that it is able to manage across various processes within its supply chain framework.
• Supply chain integration: Integrating downstream and upstream supply chain is the key to success for any supply chain. In manufacturing and marketing of shovel, the company has to ensure that its supply chain processes are integrated across all processes and people. This can be undertaken through dynamic exchange of information, which can easily be implemented by the company.
• Collaborative planning and forecasting: Through collaborative planning and forecasting along with various participants in the supply chain, supply chain managers can gain significant advantages. This would allow understanding strengths and weaknesses within each process, in turn allowing for scheduling by including delays, cost overruns and so on.
• Supply chain performance: Determining supply chain performance is of utmost importance. In the current state, the company has to determine whether its supply chain is able to respond and react to customer demands or not. It will allow the Company is designing and establishing a dynamic supply chain.
• SCOR Model: The SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Model) is a management tool for assessing, improving and reporting supply chain management solutions in companies, companies and customers. The model describes the business processes that are necessary to meet the needs of the customers (Li, Su & Chen, 2011). It helps to explain processes throughout the production chain and serves as a basis for optimizing these processes. The SCOR model was developed by the Supply Chain Advisory Committee which includes 70 leading manufacturing companies around the world. This is called the most promising model of the temporary strategic decision-making chain. The model combines business concepts in terms of redesign, benchmarking and measurement. This structure applies to five types of security chains: plans, origin, production, delivery and return. Depending on the delivery service, this process varies depending on the supplier to the customer plan. Implementing SCOR model for the current product will include the following;

This first phase involves planning and managing demand and efficiency. Elements include resource balancing with requests and setting chains (Millet, Schmitt & Botta-Genoulaz, 2009). Resource planning has to take place efficiently. Describing ways of dealing with the warehouse, the network provider, suppliers and suppliers. At the action stage production is the focus. The production phase includes production, packaging, layout and publication. This includes the management of the production network, equipment, equipment and transport.

Confirmation, maintenance of my administration without delivery. This includes the evaluation of customer orders and the receipt of the product. This section covers all materials, consumables, consumables, product life cycles, and import and export requirements. Return of the product includes removing packages. The purchases relate to the rules of the Company regarding the repatriation of stocks, goods, supplies and legal requirements have to be well-defined. The SCOR process goes through different parts of both processes so that the company can analyze the supply chain. This offers companies the opportunity to develop a share network. This process helps companies understand how suppliers, companies and customers repeat 5 steps.

Conclusion

Analysing the multi-tier supply chain for manufacturing and production of shaft, it can be said that the company in order to get maximum possible profitability has to integrate its processes across upstream and downstream supply chain processes. Moreover, the company has to overcome the possible risks facing its supply chain that might disrupt one or any of its processes. Such disruption in processes might lead to and result in loss in profitability, there SCOR model application can provide the company with substantial benefits.      

References

Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK. 

Council, S. C. (2008). Supply chain operations reference model. Overview of SCOR version, 5(0). 

Foster Jr, S. T. (2008). Towards an understanding of supply chain quality management. Journal of operations management, 26(4), 461-467. 

Li, L., Su, Q., & Chen, X. (2011). Ensuring supply chain quality performance through applying the SCOR model. International Journal of Production Research, 49(1), 33-57. 

Millet, P. A., Schmitt, P., & Botta-Genoulaz, V. (2009). The SCOR model for the alignment of business processes and information systems. Enterprise Information Systems, 3(4), 393-407. 

Olhager, J. (2010). The role of the customer order decoupling point in production and supply chain management. Computers in Industry, 61(9), 863-868. 

Sarkis, J., Zhu, Q., & Lai, K. H. (2011). An organizational theoretic review of green supply chain management literature. International Journal of Production Economics, 130(1), 1-15. 

Wang, W. Y., Chan, H. K., & Pauleen, D. J. (2010). Aligning business process reengineering in implementing global supply chain systems by the SCOR model. International Journal of Production Research, 48(19), 5647-5669. Retrieved on 10^th October 2018

Zhou, H., Benton Jr, W. C., Schilling, D. A., & Milligan, G. W. (2011). Supply chain integration and the SCOR model. Journal of Business Logistics, 32(4), 332-344.