Supply Chain Management (SCM) manages the relationships across the supply chain. Supply chain is the interconnection of businesses and relationships. SCM does not only facilitate the synergy of management but also promotes company integration. To meet the customers’ needs, consultants, practitioners and academic have incorporated logistics with the supply chain management. The incorporation aims at implementing, planning and controlling the storage of goods, facilitating the flow the goods and services, and the required information from the origin point to the consumption point.
The Stability of Supply Chain Management framework determines the success of any supply chain process. The framework consists of three closely interrelated elements: the supply chain business processes (activities), the network structure of supply chain (involved firms), and the supply chain management components (managerial variables). When dealing with the network structure of supply chain, the process starts with determining the firm members in the supply chain. Including all member firms makes the network to become very complex and may explode in the process. The best solution is through allocating resources and managerial attention to those firm members that determine the success of the company. The members include all organizations that interact with focal company to facilitate the flow of goods and services.
The supply chain business processes are all activities that provide outputs to the customers. They include customer service management, customer relationship management, product commercialization and development, management of manufacturing flow, order fulfillment, and demand management (Cooper & Lambert 8). The first step is to identify loyal customers to be targeted. Customer Service Management then provides customers with the products’ availabilities and shipping dates’ information. The demand management balances the supply chain capacities with the customers’ requirements. Order Fulfillment designs processes and networks to facilitate customers’ satisfaction. All activities that move products through the plants and their management are controlled by manufacturing flow management. To respond to market changes, this flow must be flexible. The flexibility aims at providing the required product at the lowest costs possible in a timely manner.
Work Cited
Cooper, M.C., and Lambert, D.M., “Supply Chain Management: More Than a New Name for Logistics.” The International Journal of Logistics Management 8. 1 (1997): 1–14. Print.
