STUDENTS' CORNER - 181

Where there is effective supply chain management, an employee will be confident that he will get what he needs in time so that he can give to those who need them in time.  Happiness at workplace and in work results.

Any disruption in the supply chain is a serious disruption in your business performance. Perhaps, you might have come across many details of supply chain disruption and consequent negative impact on businesses due to COVID-19.  The global trade has suffered a setback and it is anybody’s guess when the trade will return to normalcy.

Now, let us look into some of the best practices in supply chain management (SCM).

All companies strive today to perform well; on all front, competition keeps gaining in depth and strength thus driving all companies to ever focus on marketing and a successful marketing expects, rather depends on successful supply chain.  In void, marketing is an empty exercise.

Governing supply chain council

It will do well for the company to have a governing supply chain council. Since this council is generally empowered to take decisions with regard to supply chain and its issues, it is advisable to have all the top authorities in the crucial departments of the company. If possible, it can include some leaders from other companies that have proved efficient and successful. Such a constitution will infuse confidence in the workers about the validity of the decisions. In other words, the workers look upon the council as an effective leader.

It is not advisable to expect all the components, the partners in the supply chain to have the same objectives of the company; of course, all are in business but all need not have the same objective. Whenever a part of the supply chain appears to be rather deviating from the accepted objectives of the company, the Council, since one of its  critical functions is to monitor the functions and performance of the whole supply chain, can at the earliest take steps both to detect such variations and correct them so that the company does not suffer at least heavily.

Finally, the council members must be able to inspire confidence in the employees that the council acts always fairly keeping the interest of the company. This is very important because the employees know fully well that if company prospers it is good for them also. The business unit leaders must feel that the easy accessibility of the council either as a whole or even individually reflects the commitment of the council to promote the company.

In our next session, we will see some more strategies for supply chain management