The supply chain management techniques of the global tech majors are indeed the envy of a large section of industry players – Dell, Apple and their supply chain management techniques are celebrated case studies.
Outsourcing parts of the supply chain has disrupted the flow of critical data. Targeted IT investments can restore what's missing ,claims the Mckinsey quarterly article titled Recapturing your supply chain data. The experience of leading tech company who manage global supply chain suggests three important themes: tailor information flows according to demand and the type of product; reconsolidate supply chain data; and determine how closely to monitor critical information with each partner. Some of the well known problems include the likes of information and action falling in cracks between supply chain elements, errors/inconsistencies owing to differences in coding standards and different IT environments that pervade the entities inside a supply chain – all contributing to poor visibility across the supply chain.Suggesting fitting information flows to supply chain types as a guideline, it notes that some data from the supply chain are more important than others, depending on the type of product. Companies must recognize the significance of this differentiation and focus their investments on IT systems that track and monitor information critical to each product's success. With an established focus on critical elements in supply chain , consolidation of relevant data across the enterprise gets easier directly helping the business to benefit. While reassembling the information flow throughout supply chains won't be easy, given the players' different capabilities and misaligned incentives, it is clearly worthwhile for manufacturers to invest in cooperation & the article establishes the fact that leading-edge companies that did so have reduced their inventories while enhancing their performance – with direct impact on bottomlines.
Category :Supply Chain Management, Emerging Trends
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