Determining Factors in Supply Chain Management in the Food Industry

Running head: SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Supply chain management
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1SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Executive summary
The aim of this report is to discuss about the different determining factors in the current approach
of the supply chain management. A few factors such as supply chain designs and implementation
process being practiced in the food industry are being critically analyzed in this report. It is
identified that there are larger number of intermediaries are being present in the supply chain
designs of the food industry. In addition, the factors such as agility, collaboration and lean
principles are also being analyzed and are identified that these factors can help the food industry
in gaining more competitive advantages in the long term. Lastly, the technologies being used in
the current process of supply chain process are also identified and analyzed along with their
utility. This report concludes that initiation of these technologies is helping the food industry in
enhancing their effectiveness in the long term.

2SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Designs of supply chain process followed in food industry............................................................3
Integrated make to stock design..................................................................................................4
Continuous replenishment design of supply chain......................................................................5
Implementation strategies of supply chain designs.........................................................................5
Configuration of the supply chain process......................................................................................7
Collaboration strategy..................................................................................................................7
Lean principles.............................................................................................................................8
Agility in the supply chain process..............................................................................................8
Using technologies in supply chain process................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Reference.......................................................................................................................................11

3SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Introduction
Supply chain process plays an important role in determining the competitive advantages
for the business organizations. This is due to the reason that the more effective will be the
process of supply chain, the more will be the cost regulations in the vertical integration process
for the entities. In addition, effective supply chain process can also help the business
organizations in having the flexibility to change their product and service strategy in accordance
to the change in the market trends. However, it should also be noted that there are number of
different factors should be considered by the business entities in managing their supply chain
process (Seuring 2013). The intensity of these factors are getting more enhanced and complex
with the inclusion of the newer trends in the supply chain process such as technologies, these
complexities are getting further increased. This situation is further initiating the changes in terms
of supply chain process designs and strategies to cope up with the emergence of the challenges.
Food industry is one of the most relevant industries from the perspective of the supply
chain process due to the reason that different steps are involved in the worldwide operation and
process of the supply chain and logistic for the food industries. Moreover, the current era of
globalization is making the leading food industries to operate on global basis and thus the
complexities involved in the global supply chain process of the food industry are more. This
report will discuss about the designs of the supply chain process being followed by the players in
this industry (Ahi and Searcy 2013). In addition, this report will also discuss about the different
concepts such as lean principles and collaboration along with their impact on the effectiveness of
the entire supply chain process. Lastly, the use of the advanced technologies in enhancing the
efficiency of the supply chain process will also be discussed and critically analyzed.
Designs of supply chain process followed in food industry
There are different designs available for the food companies in relation to their supply
chain process. Supply chain designs refer to the process of organizing the different elements of
the supply chain in the way that it will provide the maximum utility in terms of time and cost
consumption. Thus, the designs of the supply chain process are being implemented by different
firms in respect to their respective business environment (Waller and Fawcett 2013). On the
other hand, it should also be noted that the supply chain process will not be effective by