Logistics and Supply Chain Management at Ikea, UK

Running head: LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Logistics and Supply chain management
Name of student
Name of University
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Table of Contents

1LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Organization’s overview..............................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Relationship between Supply chain management and logistics management.............................3
Significance of an effective logistics management function in achieving customer satisfaction 5
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
Significance of Enterprise resource planning (ERP)...................................................................7
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................10
Best practices to reduce the costs of logistics operations..........................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

2LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The topic revolves around the concepts of logistics and supply chain management
considering the business organization Ikea in United Kingdom. The management of supply
chains means the proper flow and exchange of products and services along with the storage of
raw materials, resources and work –in-process inventories to ensure that the finished goods reach
from the point of origin to the consumption efficiently. The logistics operations are part of the
supply chain management, where the processes are effective to manage proper flow and storage
of goods. It also includes the acquisition of information related to the supply chains and
movement of products from the point of origin to consumption (Christopher 2016). The report is
prepared to discuss the relationship between supply chain management and logistics operations
and the importance of ERP at Ikea, UK. Lastly, the best practices to reduce the operational costs
and supply chain costs will also be included here.
Organization’s overview
IKEA, UK is one of the most reputed furniture manufacturers in United Kingdom that
has been designing and selling ready to assemble furniture items, kitchen appliances and home
accessories to fulfill the various needs and requirements of the customers. The ready to assemble
products are made available at different market segments, which creates ease for the customers
in setting up good furniture and create beautiful designs within the homes (IKEA.com 2018).

3LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Task 1
Relationship between Supply chain management and logistics management
Supply chain management is the process of managing the flow or movement of goods
and services along with the storage of raw materials and resources. Supply chain management
basically refers to the process of interconnected activities that enables transformation and
movement of the raw materials and resources to the finished goods and services until it reaches
the end users. The management of supply chains also includes management of the work-in-
process inventories and making sure that the finished products of Ikea are properly moved from
the point of origin to the point of consumption. Ikea, being one of the largest home-furnishing
retailers in UK has nearly 300 stores all over the place (Islam et al. 2013). Due to this, there is
more focus on managing unique supply chain and inventory management techniques for keeping
products’ prices under control and distributing those goods in the market properly to ensure ease
accessibility for the customers as a whole. The stores of Ikea hold more than 9500 products and
so the items should be kept in stocks properly, which should be possible b managing the supply
chain operations and managing the inventories with convenience.