Strategic Supply Chain Management and Logistics for Emirates

This report provides an executive summary of the supply chain management and logistics of Emirates airline. It begins by emphasizing the importance of effective supply chain management in achieving organizational objectives, such as customer service, cost reduction, and financial performance. The report then explores the link between supply chain management and various business functions, including purchasing, operations, and resource management. Key drivers for achieving an integrated supply chain strategy, such as production, inventory, location, transportation, and information, are also discussed. Furthermore, the report evaluates the effectiveness of strategies used to maintain supplier relationships and the role of information technology in optimizing these relationships. The role of logistics and procurement practices within the supply chain is examined, along with strategies for improvement. Finally, the report concludes with a discussion of strategies to improve Emirates' supply chain and overcome implementation barriers, ultimately benefiting overall business performance. The report utilizes the provided assignment brief to ensure all learning outcomes are addressed. The report also includes an introduction, table of contents, and references.

STRATEGIC SUPPLY
CHAIN MANAGEMENT
AND LOGISTICS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY-
This report has given a brief description of the supply chain of Emirates (airline) and where
the supply chain of this company needs improvement, where they are lacking and what
strategies is required which will help the company to improve and expand their operations.
The importance of supply chain has been highlighted in this report. It states that in order to
meet the demand and predict the right measures the company will need to manage the supply
chain with the help of effective measures.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................4
LO 1.............................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Importance of effective supply chain management in achieving organizational
objectives............................................................................................................................4
1.2 Link between supply chain management and business functions in an organisation. .6
1.3 key drivers for achieving an integrated supply chain strategy in an organization.......7
LO 2.............................................................................................................................................8
2.1 Effectiveness of strategies used by an organisation to maintain supplier relationships8
2.2 Information technology to create strategies ................................................................9
2.3 systems to maintain an organization’s relationship with its suppliers.......................10
LO 3...........................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Information Technology Integration Of Different Parts Of Supply Chain................11
3.2 Information Technology has Contributed to Management of Supply Chain.............12
3.3 Effectiveness of Information Technology in Managing Supply Chain......................14
LO 4...........................................................................................................................................14
4.1 Role of Logistics in Supply Chain Management in an Organization.........................14
4.2 Procurement Practices................................................................................................16
4.3 Improvement of logistics and procurement practices.................................................17
LO 5...........................................................................................................................................18
5.1 Strategy to improve an organization's supply chain..................................................18
5.2 supply chain improvement strategy will benefit overall business performance in an
organization......................................................................................................................19
5.3 Overcoming the barriers while implementing the supply chain improvement strategy20
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................22

INTRODUCTION
Supply chain management is an overarching concept that links together multiple
operations of a company to achieve competitive advantage. While logistics refers to the
movement, storage, and flow of goods, services and information within its overall process
of supply chain. Emirates is a state-owned airline based in Garhoud, Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. This airline is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is owned by the
government of Dubai's Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company of airline
dealing in Middle East who facilitates around 3,600 flights per week from the international
airport of Dubai. They have expanded their services in 150 cities that is in 80 countries. This
report describes the importance of effective supply chain management for airline industry and
its role in achievement of business objectives, link between supply chain, drivers for achieving
supply chain, effectiveness of strategy and system of information technology used in the
supply chain, role of logistics in the company, improvement of logistics and overcoming the
barriers while implementing the strategy.
LO 1
1.1 Importance of effective supply chain management in achieving organizational objectives
Supply chain is a network between the suppliers and the company so that the products
can reach to the final buyer or the company in time without any issue.
Organizational objectives-
Objective of the company is to deliver the highest quality of service among their
competitors and the industry of aviation in order to reach the goal of providing satisfaction to
the consumers with the help of using innovative methods.
Boost customer service-
Customers expect the delivery of products in the right quantity and quality so that they
can be assorted in a correct manner. They expect that the product must be delivered to them by
the company at the right location. Apart from this company must never miss the deadline of
the delivery of product so that they can maintain the level of customer satisfaction. After that
they expect that the company must provide them with the facility of proper after sales support
so that the products they have bought can meet the standard of quality check in a timely
manner (Mangan and Lalwani, 2016). Airline industry has to greet people at the time of

checking in and thank them at the time of checking out to choose their company. Apart from
that they need to keep a check over the things which are required by the people during the
flight which is concerned with hospitality.
Reduction in Cost of Operating-
Supply chain helps the company to deliver those products in time which are expensive
so that they can avoid the cost of holding the inventory in store which is sometimes longer
than their expectations. It also helps the people and companies who deal in manufacturing.
The supply chain of management helps the companies such as Emirates to deliver the
materials which are required to make the flight successful. Any shutdown can cost the
company around $10,000 per minute. If the flight is delayed due to not reaching of resources
on time then the company will have to incur huge losses. It helps to decrease the cost of
supply chain by meeting the expected goals of the company. It helps the company to become
more efficient in handling their operations (Schönsleben, 2018). For instance food which is
required during the flight and the resources to prepare the meal other than that requirements
for the safety of people so that airline can provide the people with measures in case of
emergency.
Improves the position of the company related to financial aspects-
It helps the company to increase the level of profit as it reduces the cost of supply
chain. For instance people eat on flights so if the cost of the supply chain for that factor is
decreased just by 1 per cent then it will save the company a lot of money in the long run.
Emirates value their managers of supply chain as it helps to reduce the factor of fixed assets
and the vehicles used for transporting in the chain of supply. For instance if the company has
10 warehouses the experts and managers of supply chain will help them to reduce it to 5 by
redesigning it so that they can meet the demand and increase the overall profit of the company.
It helps companies such as Emirates to increase the flow of cash by selling more of their
services (Grant, Trautrims and Wong, 2017). Supply chain helps the industry to save and
reduce the cost of enabling the operations. It is a major factor as the success of the company
depends on it.

1.2 Link between supply chain management and business functions in an organisation.
In order to maintain the balance between demand and supply Emirates needs to plan
and coordinate with the sales force, segment the base of customers and maintain some stock
for safety.
Demand is increasing on a global level, people before taking travelling from airlines
are expecting better quality of services in low prices. For instance, there are many airlines who
provides their services at low cost but Emirates is a premium class airline which targets only
premium class customers. Other people also want to try the experience of airlines at
reasonable prices but the development and the services offered charges a high amount. This is
where supply chain of management helps the company to reduce the prices of products with
increase in overall profits, as this would help in enhancing customer relationship by reducing
operational cost. The role of global supply chain management compromises with following
functions in aviation industry.
Purchasing-
Every company needs to acquire the raw materials such as fuel, batteries, goods related
with mechanical use for the proper service of flight. All of this is done with maintaining the
coordination of suppliers and ensure the company that the materials bought by them will be
reached to them on time.
Operations-
This department of the company is concerned with the planning and forecasting of
demand. Before making the purchase orders which are required by the company they need to
anticipate and analyse the requirement according to the distance of travel and the seats booked
in the flight so that nothing extra is ordered which would lead to waste for the company. If the
goods ordered are more than company will have to handle the load of excess cost of inventory
and if the order made by them is small in quantity then they will not be able to meet the
demand of customers which will be a loss for the company. This is the reason why this tool is
an effective measure for the company (Das and Nayak, 2017).
Management of Resources-
Every company such as Emirates has to deal with the factor of technology, labour, time
and raw materials as all of them are required. Therefore, management of Emirates airline
mainly concerns on ensuring that all the processes must conduct appropriately.. It includes

decision for allocation of resources, at the right place and right time so that the cost of services
can be reduced as well as can be used optimally.
1.3 key drivers for achieving an integrated supply chain strategy in an organization
Supply chain helps the industry of aviation to manage the level of inventory, helps in
decreasing the prices which regards to maintenance, maintain the record of accuracy of
inventory and deliver quality service.
Production-
This driver states that in order to meet the demand of customers, management of
Emirates airlines need to concern on its production process first. The Procurement and
Operations Department require to forecast the demand of customers and facilitate higher
quality services to meet. For this process, Emirates has developed“Emirates Engineering’ for
maintaining the quality assurance. Along with this, it also restructures the procurement,
operations as well as logistics aspects to improve production. Companies need to enable and
add more flights so that they can increase their level of capacity and use the technique which
is suitable according to their needs and demand. Company can do the production in plants
which are small so that they can meet the requirements of customers who are important to
them (Sindi and Roe, 2017).
Inventory-
Products are stored by the company which are required during the flight at a fixed
location so that they can make them available whenever it is needed by the customers during
the flight. Products such as spare parts, batteries, fuels, equipment which are required for
safety such as life jacket and meals which are required during the flight. It will help the
company to save the time and money as in case of emergency it takes a lot of money. In order
to increase the level of efficiency company needs to stop putting the things which requires
time to sell or are not frequent in sales as compared to other. It will help the company to save
cost and get the benefit of economies of scale (Hsu, Tan and Mohamad Zailani, 2016).
Location-
This area is concerned with emphasizing on those where a company is close to their
base of customers. For the companies such as Emirates it is difficult as they serve in many

countries which requires a lot of location to target and gain access to (Koufteros and et.al.,
2018).
Transportation-
Emirate deals in this industry as Emirates SkyCargo uses their goods deliver through
the mode of airline so that they can enable their distribution fast and never miss the deadline in
market. Companies such as FedEx provides this kind of services by using the medium of
airline so that they can meet and fulfill the demand of consumers. Use of this medium is done
to deliver large quantity as it is an expensive source and it can be more efficient if the
company divides their center of distribution.
Information-
This aspect is concerned with collecting the appropriate information about demand of
targeted customers which helps Emirates to use its resources effectively, by maintaining a
balance between demand and supply. It is applied by the companies such as Emirates to
increase the performance of other drivers which are useful to the company. If the company has
collected the data which is accurate and reliable then they will be able to get positive feedback
and response which will help them to know more and develop more of their services
(Fredendall and Hill, 2016). They provide real time information in data through which
operations are performed so if there is any change in data or information then accordingly
operations are modified.
LO 2
2.1 Effectiveness of strategies used by an organisation to maintain supplier relationships
Emirates airline mainly aims to become the leader within aviation industry at
worldwide level, therefore, it requires to develop an effective SCM framework to exceed
expectations of customers by maintaining the relationship with suppliers, in following manner-
CRM will help the company to increase and enhance their relationship with customers
so that they can be economically valuable.
Communication-
In order to maintain the relationship with suppliers Emirates communicates with them
on a regular basis. Communication leads to develop transparency between suppliers and
business process and by this process management of respective airline can build trust between

each other and understand the situation so that this aspect never breaks. Management of
Emirates also concern to respect the culture as well as avoid anything which may affect
relationship with suppliers (Coyle and et.al., 2016).
Solid Agreement-
Before coming into an agreement Emirates ensured that their suppliers agrees with
their terms and conditions and then come into an agreement. It will help to reduce any conflict
or issues regarding specific matters in the future. Also, this will help them to maintain the
relationship between each other calmly.
Relationship Program for Suppliers-
To form the structure with suppliers Emirates takes help of strategies which are
suitable and effective. Apart from that they never treat their buyers in a wrong manner by
using the control of power over them. Company measures the goal and calculate in what time
they can be achieved so that they can attain the goals in timely manner (Sweeney, Grant and
Mangan, 2018).
Management of performance-
This aspect is concerned with looking over the performance of the company. To keep
this performance program as a success involvement of the highest level is needed. Lower level
of the company is involved in those operations which are tactical and requires coordination
with suppliers so that they can manage the flow of operations in a successful manner. Higher
level of management of company meets in a quarter to set the analysis of strategy. It will help
the company to evolve their management in the long run.
Training-
Training educates the management of the company so that they can learn about the
benefits of using the resources optimally. Programs of SRM which operates on large scale
requires management to deal with the employees and operates them so that they can use the
tools successfully and execute the program. They also need to anticipate at different level so
that they can evolve them in their respective fields (Copacino, 2019).
2.2 Information technology to create strategies
MIS will integrate all the data information of suppliers which will enable them to know
about the remaining stock and track details of raw materials. They will also be able to
communicate effectively with one another.

Automation of exchange of information between the supplier and the company-
If the company enables the exchange of information between each other than it will
allow them to have more time on the upcoming opportunities so that they can achieve more
success in market. Strategic supplier relationship can be enabled with the help of technology.
If the information shared and collected is right, then suppliers can help the company to
become more profitable. In order to use the factors of technology the company needs to
analyze the requirement and then conduct analysis for gap on the basis of data availability.
The processes which are right and is required to collect the data in an automotive manner will
also help Emirates to clean the data which is extra or put under new department or sources.
Company visualize the data with the help of technology so that they can get free from the
department which are concerned with conducting the activities of management for suppliers
(Christopher, Mena and van Hoek, 2018).
People and Technology-
The success of strategic relationship between the company and the supplier is based on
the quality of interaction between human. If the organization learns to adapt the factors of
technology then they will be able to gain advantage over others in the market.
Enabling strategic suppliers-
Information Technology can help the company to formulate those strategies which will
help them to predict the overcoming factors such as demand. When Emirates observe that the
demand is less it affects the level of confidence of company. For instance, Emirates have
divided the sector for business class and economy class in the plane so that they can categorize
the customers and cope up with the demand with sharing the right amount of information with
suppliers. Smoother the process of sharing more it will be able to work as a independent
function. It will help the company to look after the various methods of prediction and its
analysis so that they can move forward and achieve growth in operations (Wang and et.al.,
2016).
2.3 systems to maintain an organization’s relationship with its suppliers
Block Chain Supply Chain-
This system helps the company to keep the track of products. This method is
considered as less corruptible and as compared to others it is the best method as an alternative.
Block chain system helps the company in ways such as-

Tracking-
Companies such as Emirates who operate on a large scale consists a lot of factors and
elements in their chain. It creates difficulty in tracking information about every material. In
this method tracking becomes easy for the company as it includes dealing with sensors and
tags of RFID. It also helps to detect frauds in the whole chain of supply (Christopher, 2016).
Cost Reduction-
This system helps to reduce the cost of supply chain. The focus of this system is to
remove the cost which turns out to be extra but it still gives the company the guarantee of
security. This method does not involve middlemen, intermediaries which prevents the
company from getting duplicate products, saves money and reduce the chances of meeting
with cases of frauds. It helps to increase the efficiency of work.
Establishing Trust-
In order to maintain the flow of supply chain trust is needed to be maintained between
the supplier and the company. For instance, when the suppliers send the materials to company
a level of trust needs to be present so that without checking the company can rely on them.
The nature of the system of block chain allows the company to maintain this level of trust over
their suppliers (Brindley, 2017).
Block chain system helps Emirates to access the data from many locations and from
anywhere. The security provided by this system is of high quality. Apart from that this system
is considered most because it allows the access to data between some parties who have the
authorization to do that. This system has the capacity to link different types of ledgers and
points of data so that they can maintain the integrity of data and system. Other than these
factors, it helps to look after factors such as improvement in management for inventory,
reduction in prices of courier, reduce the time spent in paperwork.
LO 3
3.1 Information Technology Integration Of Different Parts Of Supply Chain
Impact of technology is great in industry because it helps in improving and enhancing
operational activities of companies more flexible and efficient. Technology has reduced labour
cost in Emirates which is making firm have a lot of benefits since objectives of company are
being met easily. Time consuming processes have been cut short and error prone processes in
organization are being easily detected and solved from time to time by using data collection

technologies. Warehousing and Transportation can be controlled by use of technology in
organization. Data collection is provided by technology which will help organization to reduce
over purchase of resources if material is already available in inventory. The industry will
know the inventory which is already present in the inventory so over loads will not be
purchased by the company (Alzoubi and et.al., 2020).
Demand planning has to be done so that fulfilment of supply is possible in
organization. Inventory of company is easier since data is collected from time to time which
will help organization to make decisions carefully. In Emirates the inventory is classified into
services of classes. Transparency in business is a very important factor which Emirates are
trying to provide to customers and employees of firm. Employees need to know changes
which are taking place in business so that they can deal with changes and accept them.
Emirate focuses on all employees which is a very important factor which technology helps
organization to make most from supplies which Emirates are having. Delivery which is being
done in business can be tracked and decisions can be made accordingly so that company can
produce finished goods.
Sourcing and procurement is there in companies so that functioning can take place
better and that will improve company to have smoother functioning without errors.
Communication with suppliers is better and that will make Emirates be able to reach their
objectives very quickly. Emirate has expanded itself but aim of company is to cover as many
countries as possible therefore supplier chain has to be tracked and data collection in
organization is a very important factor for Emirates. Labour cost is increasing because of new
government policies therefore technological changes will help firm to generate a lot of
revenue for themselves. Human errors in data collection and tracking of supply chain is going
to be lesser. There will be more discipline in firm and technology will help organization to
function better. Control over supply chain of business is better and that will help Emirate to
have right decisions for functioning in market.
3.2 Information Technology has Contributed to Management of Supply Chain
Technology also helps company to have a better inventory management in
organization which is a very important factor. Tracking and delivery is another format which
has been added to company because of technology so that customers. Relationship with
suppliers and management of organization will get better so that changes can be made easier