Supply chain management, or SCM, is the process of managing the manufacturing and movement of goods from your suppliers to your customers. If you have a supply chain manager or a team overseeing your supply chain processes, it's their job to ensure your operations are optimal from start to finish.
Supply logistics is a diverse business process that involves overseeing several functions and factors, including:
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- How your suppliers procure raw materials
- Your and your suppliers' warehousing capacity
- Wider reaching logistics management to ensure suppliers meet lead times and fulfill just-in-time supply chains
Forecasting and supply chain planning based on both historical and real-time data to meet customer demand
Inventory management
The entire customer order process, from processing to dispatch and delivery
One of the most significant challenges in organizing and overseeing your supply chain activities is that each element can influence the other. For example, an issue with a manufacturing process at your suppliers' assembly plants can cause disruptions, bottlenecks, and shortages further down the supply chain and affect your customers. As such, you need a robust management process to maintain those relationships.
So whether your supply chain management process helps you move towards a just-in-time supply chain strategy, improves your forecasting, or sees you provide suppliers with better warehousing solutions, there are benefits to realize wherever you look.