Report on Supply Chain Management for Silversurf Beachwear Company

This report analyzes the supply chain management practices of Silversurf Beachwear, a fashion company operating in Australia, with the aim of expanding into the global market. The report examines the importance of effective inventory management and strategic planning for achieving a competitive advantage. It discusses the role of the supply chain in a globalized world, highlighting key functions like storage, production, and distribution. The report also explores sustainable supply chain practices to reduce risks and improve production. Furthermore, it delves into the impact of information technology, including e-tailing and ERP, on optimizing supply chain activities. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of supply chain management in streamlining operations, improving customer service, and setting global standards for long-term growth, along with suggestions for IT adoption and process improvements.

Running Head: Supply Chain Management 1
Logistics and Supply Chain Management

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Executive summary
Creating and developing the value in the products to the customers is not an easy task for
the company. By the effective inventory management and supply chain practices, any
organization can gain competitive advantage at the global level. This report will analyze the
given case study and will provide the supply chain management plan for the fashion company
operating in Australia. The aim of the report is to analyze the concept of supply chain in the
global market. For the company Silversurf Beachwear, the report will identify sustainable
practices of the supply chain to operate in the new markets. Along with this, the ways of
managing inventory will also be described for the growth of the company. After that, the role of
the information technology in the supply chain practices will also be analyzed at the end of the
report.

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Contents
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction: Supply chain management.........................................................................................4
Inventory management and strategic planning................................................................................4
Supply chain in Globalized world...................................................................................................4
Sustainable practices of supply chain..............................................................................................5
Managing inventory.........................................................................................................................6
Impact of Information Technology..................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction: Supply chain management
The concept of supply chain management is very crucial for every organization or
industry. The fashion industry also needs effective supply chain management process to keep the
business on track. This report describes the role of supply chain management in a company
Silversurf Beachwear provided in the case study. By analyzing the case study, it is seen that the
company is operating in Australian market and it is doing well in its business. Further, the
planning of the company is to expand the business in the international market but it is not any
easy task. There is the need of proper inventory management planning and sufficient amount of
raw material to operate in the global market. Based on the case study, it is observed that
company is planning to expand its business in Asia, USA, China, America and Europe. These are
developed countries and there is strong competition in the fashion retail industry. In such case,
company has to adopt effective manufacturing and distribution strategies to survive in the
competitive environment of the global market (Chopra & Meindl, 2013).
Inventory management and strategic planning
For every company, inventory management is important part to manage supply chain of
the products in the market. For the company Silversurf Beachwear, inventory management will
have a positive impact on the business operations as the company will be able to manufacture
quality clothes for the target customers (Rashid & Aslam, 2012). To operate in the global market,
company needs strategic planning along with proper inventory management. To control and
manage unnecessary cost and review the development of the business, inventory management is
useful for the Silversurf Beachwear. Along with this, for establishing effective and strong
relationship with the customers and suppliers, inventory management would be very helpful for
the company in the global market. Economic value of the company in terms of revenue and
profit would also be managed by proper inventory management (Beske & Seuring, 2014).
Supply chain in Globalized world
At the global level, there is the need of some different supply chain strategy to deal with
the competition and to attract the potential customers in the market. In the supply chain
management, there are some key factors and functions which must be covered by the company

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Silversurf Beachwear. The supply chain functions are storage, proper raw material, production
and monitoring of the products, establishing relationship with the customers and suppliers and
distributing the finished to the customer on time. Operating on the global level is not an easy task
for the companies (Cannella, 2010). For this manner, company has to focus on the core
components of the supply chain management i.e. planning, sourcing, manufacturing, delivering
and return. By focusing on these five components, Silversurf Beachwear will be able manage its
supply chain of raw material and finished products at the global level. Further, continuous flow
and exchange of the information in terms of production, material and finance is needed in the
supply chain management at the global level. So, company has to adopt these supply chain
practices to expand its business in the most challenging country of fashion retail i.e. China.
China is considered as the most challenging country contributing the economic sector of the
clothing industry. By adopting effective supply chain practices, company will be able to operate
in the China market effectively (Barney, 2012).
Sustainable practices of supply chain
There are many points which to needed to be reduced in the business operations if a
company us going to operate in the global market. For this manner, sustainable supply chain
practices must be adopted by the Silversurf Beachwear to reduce the risk of investment, improve
time to market, and generating more profit in the market. Supply chain practices are useful in
improving the level of production along with the manufacturing and distribution process. For the
excellent customer service and customer loyalty, there is the need of good production of the
clothing products in the Silversurf Beachwear. There are some supply chain practices that must
be used by the company at the global level operation. Some of the supply chain practices are
provided for the company (Assey, 2012).
Company would keep all the information regarding the required and available inventories
in the production of clothing products. There would be transaction based movements for
maintaining the records of the movements of the raw materials and inventories. Further,
automated data collection method would be used for tracking the inventory and raw material. By
this method, company would able to gather all the data and information related to all the required
raw material. Along with this, it is important to maintain adequate level of raw material in the
company as high level of inventory can be the cause unnecessary cost in the business operations.

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For this manner, company would set re-order point including the arrangements of the safety
stock of inventory (Wisner, 2011).
Managing inventory
Managing inventory is important part of the supply chain process in the company. For
operating at the global level, there is the need to manage its inventory by Silversurf Beachwear.
Managing inventory includes ordering raw material, work in progress, partner inventories and
finished goods that must be focused by the company while planning to operate in the
international level. Company would observe the inventory items effectively by using inventory
tracking software and bar codes to escape from the errors in inventory storage. Further, while
placing the order of raw material, inventory management software would be used by the
company. Along with this, company would have a backup plan to use that at the time of any kind
of failure (Pamela & Pietro, 2011).
Impact of Information Technology
Technology has an important role in every business operations. There are various
technologies which can be used to keep the record of inventories. Company would implement
some effective technologies i.e. e-tailing, e-commerce warehousing, and material requirement
planning etc. along with this, some software such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), and
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) would also be used by the Silversurf Beachwear to maintain
the supply chain activities at the global level.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be said that supply chain management is helpful in
reducing the workload of employees in the business operations. With the help of proper supply
chain, company would be able to manage many business operations such as customer services,
supplier and customer management, and inventory management. With the inventory
management, company should do efforts for long term growth and should set the global
standards for long term strategy because for the short term strategy. Along with this, company
should start some activities such as adaption of IT resources, removal of unnecessary operation
processes etc to improve the efficiency of supply chain.

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References
Assey, J.J.M., (2012), A New Introduction to Supply Chains and Supply Chain Management:
Definitions and Theories Perspective, Journal of Business and Economics, 5 (1), pp. 194-207
Barney, J.B., (2012), Purchasing, supply chain management and sustained competitive
advantage: the relevance of resource-based theory, Journal of supply chain management, 48
(2), pp. 3-6
Beske, P., and Seuring, S., (2014), Putting sustainability into supply chain management,
Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 19 (3), pp. 324-333
Cannella, S., (2010), Up-to-date Supply Chain Management: the Coordinated (S, R), In
“Advanced Manufacturing and Sustainable Logistics”,175-185, Springer-Verlag Berlin
Heidelberg, Germany
Chopra, S., & Meindl, P., (2013), Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning, and
Operation (5th ed.), US: Pearson, Global Edition
Pamela, D., & Pietro, R., (2011), Supply chain integration and efficiency performance: a
study on the interactions between customer and supplier integration, Supply chain
Management: An International Journal, 16, pp. 220-230
Rashid, K., and Aslam, M., (2012), Business excellence through total supply chain quality
management, Asian Journal on Quality, 13(3), pp.309 – 324
Wisner, J. D., (2011), Principles of Supply Chain Management: A Balanced Approach,
Cengage Learning