View the roadmap to supply chain optimization in this infographic and find our tips to accelerate your company’s improvement.

Published: September 06, 2024
Authored by: H J Schmitt, SCMP
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What are principles behind supply chain design optimization? Learn how to determine the importance of evaluation and begin the process improvement for better results.

Improving Your Supply Chain Operations…?

The Road to Supply Chain Optimization Starts Here.

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Change is no small thing, especially when tackling major roadblocks to streamlined operations, Understand the phases involved in a redesign and optimization project with helpful hints to guide you in the following article.. 

Network: 

Breakout the supply chain map and delve into the segments for your company’s inputs by customer segment. 

Task Tip:

• Get Visual. Use a whiteboard and presentation tools to see where the dependencies are. You may reveal more than you realize as you determine the critical pathways connecting each value chain to your suppliers and eventually to your customer.
• Get Engagement. Bring the team and create a cross functional diverse group of people to provide insight into the less obvious connections. The supply chain spans functional departments from operations to finance and you may yield critical insight if you don’t leave anyone out.

Demand:

Task Tip:

• Get History. Find the historic data and draw from the various sources that explain delays, causes and seasonality to help explain the divergence and patterns in the numbers. You will want to have a comprehensive understanding of the factors impacting demand for better forecasting.
• Get Analytical. Leverage the quants for the best in combined data analysis. These sources may not be from the same systems, nor measuring the same inputs and it is wise to involve the use of simulation and analytical tools for a variable model that can deliver more adaptive results based on situational parameters.

Delivery:

Take steps to perfect the logistics for each customer segment and bring delivery into an optimized state.

Task Tip:

• Get Specific. Delve into the details of the service expectations and constraints for each of your customer segments to understand how they differ and where slack exists in the system. You can see where resource utilization may be lagging behind and where costs can be reduced by taking an immersive approach to customer service.
• Get Feedback. Communicate the decision to improve delivery with the customer and explain you are on a mission to make the services better suited to each segment. You may find opportunities for greater integration and for lessons in the feedback that they provide when you do.

Product:

Standardize in production the components of the product and ensure the customization is the last step for product differentiation wherever possible.

Task Tip:

• Get Streamlined. Bring operational efficiency into the manufacturing process with standardized products and services. Offer customers the opportunity to make choices that are right for them – without eliminating your efficacy. You can adapt production and design fabrication and manufacturing processes with modular customizations in mind, right from the start.
• Get Costs. Know what it costs to loose time in a delayed process, to customize a product, and to deal with inoperable equipment. By practicing managerial accounting and tracking the operational costs, you may find new solutions like turning lost-time into new source of revenue as you put underutilized resources to work and maximize their capacity, or by eliminating the non essential factors when producing your goods and services.

Outsource: 

Determine what is core and strategic then outsource the non-critical elements for greater efficacy with high quality results.

Task Tip:

• Get Strategic. Determine what makes your company different and become committed to protecting it. Exploit and go all-in on the element of production and service delivery that makes your company what it is, irreplaceable. 
• Get Expertise: Letting the experts do what they are best at is what you want to offer for your customers and so do the professionals that can help to save you time and money. Leverage expertise to get the help you need and devote your company’s resources to the production of excellence that combine to create your unique offer.

Integrate Technology:

Gain transparency with cross-sectional decision making tools and technologies.

Task Tip:

• Integrated Design. Break-down silos by using technology to combine the information and create information pathways into various areas of the business. Changes to the flow and use of data can offer better innovative experiences for talent and lead to solutions or better performance.
• Real Time Information. Make the best possible ‘at a glance’ dashboard that you can design for each essential role in your business. Let the key performance metrics for those functional experts be your guide to determine where and how you should be creating awareness using technologies that enhance communications and lead to better decisions.

Key Metrics:

Use service and financial analytics to measure progress towards benchmarked goals and to achieve perspective for company objectives.

Task Tip: 

• Leverage AI. Shortfalls in performance might stem from measuring the wrong things. Do not hesitate to learn from the analytical tools that can identify what to measure and how often for your specific company’s composition and circumstance.
• Benchmarking Progress. Become familiar with the leading indicators of excellence in your industry, each functional element, and across the value chain. Know the difference between what is great and what can be improved by familiarizing yourself and your talent with the best-in-class examples that relate to their responsibilities.

In Conclusion

Revising your supply chain management operations can lead to more efficient processes, reduced costs, and improved quality. This can enhance your business’s competitiveness and ensure long-term sustainability for future success.

The Importance of Efficiency:

• Competitive Advantage: Historically, businesses with optimized supply chains have outperformed competitors by delivering products faster and more reliably.
• Adaptability: Improved supply chain management has enabled businesses to better adapt to market changes and disruptions, ensuring continuity and resilience.
• Customer Satisfaction: Efficient supply chains lead to better product availability and faster delivery times, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Innovation: Looking back, the advancements in supply chain management have driven innovation, leading to adoption of new business models and growth opportunities.

Enlisting a consultant can be a game-changer, helping your business navigate complexities and achieve growth.

We do this by supporting you changing the way things are done and providing you with an objective perspective.

A supply chain advocate is standing by to assist you with your next project. Don’t hesitate and get started today.

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Back-To-Basics, Supply Chain Management

Business leaders can revaluate what is essential to their company’s success and leverage their own unique understanding of the industry for a pro-active approach to decision making. Manage rising prices, changing priorities, and unplanned disruptions while building a resilient business to withstand any challenge. Subscribe and follow along while Supply Chain Logistics Consulting reviews the basic practices and concepts that help business professionals to adopt and maintain a focused approach to supply chain management and business process improvement. #supplychain #logistics #operations #procurement #sourcing #leadership #excellence #learn #improveyourbusiness #communication #strategy #development #backtobasics

At Supply Chain Logistics Consulting our mandate is to improve the way things are done and we would be happy to hear from you. Do you have a specific problem you are solving? A unique solution or a successful story about making a significant change?

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