Logistics and Supply Chain Management

This report explores the supply chain strategy of Snap-Fresh, an Australian cold storage facility owned by Qantas. It provides an overview of the company, current supply chain management practices, challenges, and new strategies. The report highlights the use of SAP framework and discusses the importance of proper planning, customer service, e-supply chain, and lean management in the supply chain. It concludes with recommendations for improvement.

Running head: SUPPLY CHAIN
Logistics and supply chain management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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Abstract
The following report is totally based on the supply chain strategy of Snap-Fresh an Australian
based cold storage facility wholly owned by Qantas private limited. The report details out the
current supply chain management of the company. It begins with the introduction of the
company followed by a detailed background. The report has detailed out the current level of
strategic planning by the management of the company where the organization follows a smart
setup and engages both the supplier and the buyer in a particular layout of the supply chain. The
use of SAP framework has been detailed out in this part. On the other hand the current supply
chain processes and challenges have also been discussed in this particular report. However, the
most significant part of the report is presenting different frameworks and new supply chain
strategies that can be easily changed accordingly. The report has provided a detailed strategy on
Supply chain management of the company in a proper and effective manner. The report has
concluded with a summary of the total study and a few recommendations on the same.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Background..................................................................................................................................4
Purpose of the Assignment..........................................................................................................4
Rationale of the Assignment........................................................................................................5
Current Supply Chain Process.....................................................................................................5
Goals and Challenges of the Company............................................................................................6
Current Directions, Decisions and possible challenges...............................................................7
Figure No 1: Current Supply Chain Process................................................................................8
Theories and Models........................................................................................................................8
Figure No 2: Supply Chain Management Frameworks...............................................................9
Comparison with the mentioned Strategies...............................................................................10
Practical Contribution....................................................................................................................11
Problem Areas...........................................................................................................................11
Identification on the Areas of Improvement..............................................................................12
Figure No 3: Proposed Strategic Supply Chain Model.............................................................13
Critical Evaluation and In-Depth Analysis....................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................16

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Introduction
Background
The following report is totally based on an Australian based food production company,
Snap Fresh. The company is owned by Qantas and is known for operating one of the largest cold
storage facilities for food in Australia. The storage facility occupies more than 35,000 cubic
meters. The current capacity of the business is that it is able to produce more than 20 million
tones of meals each year in packaging formats (qantas.com.au, 2019). The company being a
wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas Group has the task to supply fresh food and hot portion
meals to Qantas as well as other airlines and the non-airlines customers. The management of the
company prides itself in the reputation of reliability. The company prioritizes food safety and
integrates it at each possible step throughout the business from menu design to heat and then
serve the customers of the organization.
Purpose of the Assignment
The main purpose of the following assignment is to have a look into the supply chain
management of the organization and identify the steps that they follow to complete their supply
chain management and organize their logistics. Apart from providing a deep insight into the
current practices, the report has identified the viability of the practices and its advantages and
disadvantages in the current scenario. The report has also provided some viable options that can
be detrimental to the maintenance of a proper supply chain in the organization.

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Rationale of the Assignment
The reason for the selection of Snap Fresh is the service they offer. The management of
Snap Fresh utilizes their technical knowhow and ensures the storage of foods in the most
organized and safe manner. The safe process and the effective food processing standards
maintained by the company has helped them to earn rewards and recognition as the business
enterprise has been able to win a number of different awards based on food systems excellence.
Therefore being an extremely successful organization, it is really important to gain an insight
into the supply chain management practices of the company and thus the selection of Snap Fresh
for studying the following topic is very much justified.
Current Supply Chain Process
According to, Hartini & Ciptomulyono (2015) the movement of temperature sensitive
products through the supply chain of the company generally presents a number of challenges to
the food companies like Snap Fresh. These can include from storage and transportation to the
likes of carriers and the monitoring of the loads. The management of the company describes that
their company has got no room for error as because the food that are stored are provided to the
customers in the different kind of carriers (Xin, Ojanen & Huiskonen, 2017). This makes the
situation more difficult and thus increases the responsibility of the management of the
organization. The Company has its own set of Transportation set up which transports foods in a
secured and healthy environment to the carriers which are then served to the customers boarding
the airlines. According to, Wamba & Akter, (2015) having a transportation set up is important
for the organization as because it reduces the operational cost and improves connectivity and
communication. Apart from this the company also carries out quarterly audits to assess the
performance of the organizations and ensure the smooth running of the business. According to,

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Zeng et al. (2017) the presence of a number of cold storage warehouses eases the work of the
organization to supply healthy as well as quality food on time.
Goals and Challenges of the Company
The study of Hazen, Overstreet & Boone (2015) has revealed that the Supply Chain in the
modern world is getting highly competitive with each passing days. Most of the companies are
trying to reduce their operational costs and earn quality profit. The management of the company
uses SAP as is perhaps the best solution because it helps to optimize and revitalize the supply
chain environment of the organization (Xin, Ojanen & Huiskonen, 2017). The scope that SAP
provides helps to improve the range and efficiency of the supply chain practice followed by the
organization. The management of Snap Fresh has been able to gain a momentum as because SAP
enables the organization to harness new technologies that includes Artificial Intelligence and the
Internet of Things (qantas.com.au, 2019). The use of Artificial Intelligence helps to provide a
much better safety to the foods and helps the organization to supply great quality food to the
clients. According to, Zeng et al. (2017) the processing and storing of food is crucial and
complex in nature. The management of Snap Fresh is extremely careful while handling the foods
as because they are served to a prestigious industry having prestigious clients. The SAP system
helps to keep a real time monitoring of the total process beginning from the storage of the food in
the cold storage, packing it properly, transporting it and handling it to the end users (Melkonyan
et al. 2017). This total process helps to ensure a smooth flow of the stored food. The SAP system
also has the capability to highlight different kinds of issues or problems that may occur in the
supply chain process and paves the way for further investigation.

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Current Directions, Decisions and possible challenges
Inventory is considered to be the life of the supply chain and therefore a well balanced
supply chain is essential for the success of the organization. The current state of strategic role of
the organization is based on the inventory of the organization. The inventory is considered to be
the most effective and important asset for the organization. The research on supply chain
management by Mingers & Yang (2017) has shown that more than 50% of the total invested
capital is the inventory as because it stands out to be an effective part to operate a profitable
company. The company has a proper supply chain process in place that allows the involvement
of all the different kinds of business functions (Yawar & Seuring, 2017). The involvement of the
other business functions makes the supply chain much more smooth and easy to process. The
inventory is managed by the organization through a host of different steps. First of all a request is
send to food procurement through the means of e-mail (Mishra et al. 2018). After the receipt of
the mail, the food procurement department will enquire about the available stock and ensure
whether the requirement can be met or new stock will be bought. The food procurement
department will send request to procure new stock to the marketing department which in turn
will process the request to the sales department (qantas.com.au, 2019). Though the management
follows these steps sometimes, the following process has found a new replacement and the
organization nowadays includes effective management of the quality in the total process as
another major requirement for the same. The management of the company involves a number of
evaluation and re-evaluation processes to ensure the presence of a smooth supply chain within
the organization. The figure given below shows the current Supply chain strategy and the
logistical management practice followed by the management of Snap Fresh (Wieland, Handfield
& Durach, 2016).

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The most important challenges that are faced by the organization in such a process is the
absence of a stability in the demand of the companies. Being a supplier of food for the Airlines
industry the company has to always stay alert and store a healthier amount of food. The Airlines
industry has always an emergency requirement for healthy and quality foods and being the
supplier of food for a number of Airlines including Qantas makes the task of Snap Fresh tougher
(qantas.com.au, 2019). The present infrastructure of the company and the way the internal
messaging and communication is done needs to be changed in order to ensure success in the
organization.
Figure No 1: Current Supply Chain Process
Source: (Fosso Wamba & Mishra, 2017)
Theories and Models
According to, Naoum & Egbu (2015) the presence of a competitive environment restricts
the single enterprises to fully achieve all the different goals of the management. The increase in
the demand and wants of the customer and as the demands of the customers becomes more and

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more specific in nature the firms must undertake different kind of initiatives to coordinate
responsibilities across the supply chain in order to improve the service and lower the costs of the
goods and the services (Wieland, Handfield & Durach, 2016). Supply Chain is not considered to
be a chain of businesses with one to one or any relationship in between business to business, but
it is generally termed as the network of multiple businesses along with relationships.
Figure No 2: Supply Chain Management Frameworks
Source: (As created by the Author)
 Planning- Supply Chain Planning for the organization is defined by Pal (2017) as the
planning done by the management of Snap Fresh both within or outside the cold storage
facility. This generally involves the multi-plant operations which require proper planning
for the synchronization of the different storage plans of the organization. According to,
Wamba & Akter, (2015) the absence of a comprehensive planning the packaging and
SUPPLY CHAIN BUSINESS
PROCESSES
SUPPLY CHAIN NETWORK
STRUCTURE
SUPPLY CHAIN
MANAGEMENT
COMPONENTS

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transportation of the different stored foods in the cold storage will not be possible. The
storage planning and the planning of transporting the food from the warehouse to the
different clients or the end users is thus required to ensure success in the supply chain.
 Customer Service- Service to the customers is one of the primary characteristics of
supply chain management. The presence of an effective and smooth supply chain in the
organization can help to serve the customers a better service and provide them quality
goods (Türkay, Saraçoğlu & Arslan, 2016). The presence of such a supply chain can help
in a smooth logistics and delivery system.
 E-Supply Chain- The most modern and advanced form of supply chain management is
the implementation of the e-supply chain (Papadopoulos et al. 2017). The e-supply chain
helps the organization to deliver goods and services at a much higher speed than the
normal ones and thus presents the organizations the opportunity of high turnover.
 Lean Management- According to, Rajeev et al. (2017) lean supply chain management
will include the just in time supply management that enables a decrease in the cost of the
inventory. The fulfillment of the orders and the overhead cost will be eradicated which
will allow the inventory to have a much more steady flow. The presence of lean
management and the application of lean technologies in the supply chain can reduce the
cost of the processed food and can also reduce the cost of transportation and other related
costs.
Comparison with the mentioned Strategies
The present supply chain strategy of the company is based on the central layout of the
ERP System. The layout allows the system to be accessible to both the buyers and Snap-Fresh.
Such a layout helps both the parties to check the inventory and have an idea about the exact

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requirement of the organization (Türkay, Saraçoğlu & Arslan, 2016). The exact benefit of such a
layout is it helps the organization to provide the buyers the option to have a look at the inventory
and manage their needs accordingly (Saenz & Koufteros, 2015). Apart from this the strict
monitoring of the total supply chain to ensure the best quality of the food is supplied to the end
users.
According to, Santibanez-Gonzalez et al. (2016) the comparison of the following strategy
can clearly show similarities with the planning framework as well as customer satisfaction
framework. Both the frameworks are clearly addressed by the existing supply chain strategy of
the organization.
Practical Contribution
Problem Areas
According to, Melkonyan et al. (2017) the supply chain network of Snap Fresh has a
number of different weaknesses. This weakness makes the organization vulnerable in the
competitive market. The primary weaknesses of the supply chain network lies in the over
reliance on a single supplier. On the other hand according to, Hazen, Overstreet & Boone (2015)
the presence of a solo supplier is risky as because the over dependency of the organization in a
single supplier can lead to the failure of the organization in the market. The dependency on the
supplier will also lead to the forceful selection of the items that are provided by the contracted
supplier. The absence of no price competition can also lead to different other problems. Presence
of a single supplier will also lead to delay in deliveries and in worst cases the company has to
also compromise with the quality of the foods.

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Identification on the Areas of Improvement
The problem areas identified in the above part of the chapter has discussed the different
vulnerabilities of the organization (Hazen, Overstreet & Boone, 2015). The management of the
company must ensure to bring in new suppliers to change the current state of the organization
and ensure fresh supply of foods. Similarly the study of Hartini & Ciptomulyono (2015) explains
that the presence of more suppliers will help the organization to do away with quality
compromise and monopolistic attitude of suppliers. Such a market condition will also help the
organization to negotiate fairly with the suppliers and ensure healthy profitability.
The management of the organization must implement new plans and supply chain
strategies to usher in positive changes to the organization. Some of the common changes include
the implementation of Lean models and a smarter ERP system (Fosso Wamba & Mishra, 2017).
The implementation of a lean strategic model will help the organization to receive the food from
the suppliers within a short time and meet the demands of the airlines and other companies. The
presence of lean management will also reduce human labor and ensure perfection in packaging
which in turn will ensure safety for the food supplied to the clients of the organization. A new
proposed model is shown below;

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Figure No 3: Proposed Strategic Supply Chain Model
Source: (Singh et al. 2018)
Critical Evaluation and In-Depth Analysis
According to, (Fosso Wamba & Mishra, (2017) there are a number of different benefits
of the following supply chain strategy. The presence of too many suppliers increases the options
of the organization as they can choose from a variety of different products and also increases the
negotiation power of the organization. On the other hand the study of Fahimnia, Sarkis &
Davarzani (2015) explains that it decreases the effort of the management effort to track the
performance of the suppliers and the increase in information sharing among the supply chain
network helps to decentralize the power of the suppliers and the buyers. The information sharing
also helps to take random decisions and the information sharing optimizes the performance of the
organization.

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Delipinar & Kocaoglu (2016) explains that there are a number of different disadvantages
of implementing the following Supply Chain strategy. The presence of too many suppliers often
creates confusion and there are chances of the creation of a haphazard situation and the increase
in the number of suppliers often leads to problems in information sharing (Wieland, Handfield &
Durach, 2016). However according to, de Barros et al. (2015) the presence of Lower order
volumes mean lesser bargaining power and even competitions between suppliers may be
insufficient when it comes to generating cost-savings as compared to higher volume leveraging.
Apart from that the lackluster supplier relationships will result in the lower a supplier’s vested
interest in the organization; the lesser will be their responsiveness especially in times of
crisis/emergency situations.
The research of Wamba & Akter (2015) has seen that considering the current situation in
the company, the management of Snap-Fresh must implement the new models in order to ensure
a smooth and clean supply chain management. The new supply chain management can easily
help the business enterprise to make the most of the resources and implement a smarter supply
chain management. However, the new supply chain process involving the use of digital
technology through e-tendering, e-reverse auction and other kinds of technology transfers can
create problems as because in case of a digital breakdown, the company will face tremendous
problems as such a supply chain is totally dependent on digital technology and does not entertain
the use of manual process for the supply chain (de Barros et al. 2015). Presently the practice that
is being practiced by the company is doing quite well but given the increase in competition in the
market and the demand for quality goods has forced the company to think about digital
transformation of the supply chain management (Darkow, Foerster & von der Gracht, 2015). The

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application of the lean model in combination with the digital transformation will enable the
success of the supply chain management.
Conclusion
The following report has presented a clear and transparent picture of the total supply
chain management of the company in a detailed manner. The presentation of both the current as
well as the future strategies to control the supply chain process of the organization increases the
importance of the following report. After a thorough analysis of the total study it can be
concluded that though the current strategy is quite good for the organization, the implementation
of a much smarter strategy based on digital platform and following lean technology will be the
game changer for the future and will also help the company to get sustainable. The organization
must implement these new strategies at a proper and stepwise manner to ensure sustainability
and success of the enterprise in the market.

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