Supply Chain Management Reports 2022

RUNNING HEAD: SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
0
Supply Chain
Management
STUDENT’S DETAILS-
2020

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 1
Introduction
Supply chain management is regarded as the business process that transforms the raw materials
to the final products. This process is related with streamlining of business activities in order to
maximize the customer value and gaining of the competitive advantage (Cooper, 2017). There
are different supply chain methods which can be used for fulfilling the demand of the customers
and use the well-defined plan for meeting the needs of future. Here, is based on the demand-
driven supply chain method which is also regarded as agile supply chain and another is fast
supply chain method. The report has highlighted overall design, procurement strategy and the
production and operations are made under the supply chains. Also, the decision making under the
supply chains by analyzing the impact of the external macro factors are also discussed.
Types of Supply Chains
The types of supply chains are analyzed by the strategies used by the organization to balance the
cost benefit tradeoffs in order to make sure that cost is reduced and operational efficiency is
maintained. There can be demand-driven and agile supply chains which can be utilized for
increasing the efficiency into the supply chains. Demand-driven supply chain is the type of
supply chain which is built upon the responses to the demand signals. The main force under this
is that is it highly driven by the customer demands. Under this, rights prediction and contingency
planning tools are being utilized for giving effective responses to the risks. The organizations
therefore shape not only the pricing but also the promotional tools for meeting the customer’s
demands (Eagle, 2017). This provides foresight for leveraging business opportunities and
mitigating the risk through maintaining the flow of information across all business entities. This
supply chain has the tendency to make adaptation to changing market conditions for the purpose
of reducing or increasing the inventory levels. This type of supply chain is based on the demand
forecasting in which the supply chain is made by prioritizing the customer needs.
Another method is fast supply chain model which is described as method to be used for the
shorter product life cycle. This is treated as the flexible model which considers the products that
can be used as per the trend of the product. As per this supply chain, the company make renewal
of the product portfolio and update it according to the latest trends. This aims to make the
maximum level of forecast of the market mediation and meets end-to-end efficiency to provide

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 2
an affordable cost to the customers. This supply chain model meets the seasonal demands of the
customers in order to make a healthy difference among the competitor’s value and certainly
creates an ability to make the upgradation into the product portfolio by making it in accordance
with the latest trends. As a result, the main focus is on reducing the market mediation cost in
order to remain competitive and creating the manufacturer’s ability to develop new products.
Overall Design of Supply Chains
The design of supply chain is identified by the processes and structures identified for the
management and maintaining the balance between the inventory, transportation and
manufacturing costs. This design of supply chain is exclusively adopted for the matching of
supply and demand under the contingent situations and positioning and managing the inventory
levels. Additionally, it accounts for using the supply chains for the purpose of using the
resources effectively in the dynamic business environment. The supply chain design gives the
knowledge about the location and geographical sourcing. It later determines the inventory
stocking points through meeting the demand and supply uncertainties, lead times and other
possible constraints (Stefanovic, 2014). Lastly, the design allows the company to determine
the allocation of resources and taking the decisions about the purchasing of raw materials or
producing of products as well as identifying when and where inventory will be kept for the future
needs.
The supply chain design for agile supply chain or demand-driven supply chain is created by
making the products responsive to the dynamic global competitiveness. This supply chain is
designed by responding to the market changes through reaching a faster competition and making
disruptions into the supply chain model (Vinodh, et al., 2013). The design decisions in agile
supply chains are made at the strategic level and involves the production to be seen as the
adaptive to the new environment. Further, this certainly involves inventory optimization
algorithms for the successful placing of semi-configured products by allowing last minute
flexibility and building the configuration which is required. This can certainly get double
competitive advantage which can ensure higher productivity at the lower cost of supply chain. A
well-designed supply chain is a prerequisite for the sensing of the demand and supply changes
and making decision making effectively (Lemoine, 2016).