7 Steps Involved in Supply Chain Design Process

Welcome to the interesting world of supply chain design, where innovation, efficiency, and creativity join together to plan the smooth movement of products and services! Businesses aim to create a symphony of logistics in this complex dance of interrelated stages, streamlining their operations to get items into the hands of eager customers.

Are you ready to embark on an exciting journey, prepared to take the Supply Chain Planning steps?

 Prepare to learn the secrets of effective supply chain management as we examine the key phases that turn simple concepts into finely tuned-distribution masterpieces! 

Let’s explore the core of this fascinating process, where each choice taken and each connection established determines the future of industries and the makeup of the global market.

What are the steps involved in the supply chain design process?

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The initial phases of a supply chain, such as raw material processing and manufacturing, establish their break-even point by considering production costs compared to market pricing. A supply chain may frequently be divided into distinct parts. In addition, expenses are related to each stage of a supply chain model.

Key steps in the supply chain design process:

Step 1: Define the goals and scope of your supply chain

The first step is to define what you want to achieve with your supply chain and the boundaries and constraints you must work with. For example, you might want to increase customer satisfaction, reduce inventory levels, lower transportation costs, or improve sustainability. 

You also need to consider the external factors that affect your supply chain, such as customer demand, market trends, competitors, regulations, etc. You should also identify the key stakeholders and their roles and responsibilities in your supply chain.

Step 2: Collect and analyze data

The next step is to collect and analyze data related to your supply chain. This includes data on your current performance, such as service levels, lead times, costs, quality, etc. You also need data on your suppliers, customers, products, processes, resources, etc. You can use various tools and methods to collect and analyze data, such as surveys, interviews, observations, benchmarking, simulation, etc. The goal is to understand the current state of your supply chain and identify the gaps and opportunities for improvement.

Step 3: Design alternative scenarios

The third step is to design alternative scenarios for your supply chain. This means creating different options for configuring and operating your supply chain to achieve your objectives. For example, you might consider different locations for your facilities, modes of transportation, sourcing strategies, inventory policies, etc. You can use tools such as network optimization, linear programming, decision trees, etc., to help you design and evaluate different scenarios.

Step 4: Evaluate and compare scenarios

The fourth step is to evaluate and compare your designed scenarios. This means assessing how each scenario performs in terms of your objectives and criteria. You can use quantitative measures such as cost-benefit analysis, return on investment, net present value, etc. You can also use qualitative measures such as risk analysis, sensitivity analysis, SWOT analysis, etc. 

Step 5: Select the best scenario

The fifth step is to select the best scenario for your supply chain. This means choosing the scenario that best meets your objectives and criteria and has the highest potential for success. You should also consider the trade-offs and implications of your choice and how it aligns with your vision and strategy. You should also get feedback and approval from your stakeholders before finalizing your decision.

Step 6: Implement the selected scenario

The sixth step is to implement the selected scenario for your supply chain. This means executing the actions and changes required to make your scenario a reality. You should also monitor and control the progress and performance of your implementation and make adjustments as needed. You should also communicate and coordinate with your stakeholders throughout the implementation process.

Step 7: Review and improve

The seventh and final step is to review and improve your supply chain design. This means evaluating the results and outcomes of your implementation and comparing them with your expectations and objectives. You should also identify and share the lessons learned and best practices from your experience with your stakeholders. You should also look for new opportunities for improvement and innovation in your supply chain design.

What are the latest Supply chain management trends?

  • Advanced Analytics and Automation: Through the use of digital, agile supply chain management, firms will be able to prevent disruption through the use of predictive and prescriptive analytics as well as big data, algorithms, and robots.
  • Reshoring and Nearshoring: As companies deal with the difficulties caused by disruptions in the world’s supply chains, many are trying to reshore or nearshore their operations to boost resilience, shorten lead times, and keep costs under control.
  • Circular Economy and Sustainability: As businesses work to cut waste, improve their environmental impact, and address concerns connected to climate change, they will place a greater emphasis on adopting circular economy ideas. 
  • Increased Leverage of Technology: As businesses strive to increase the effectiveness and resilience of their supply chains, they will increasingly leverage emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, and IoT.

Supply chain managers must emphasize agility and rapid response to adjust to demand, supply, and regulations changes swiftly. The most recent supply chain management developments include the circular economy, sophisticated analytics, automation, reshoring, and nearshoring.

The Final Words

Remember that supply chain design is a continual process of improvement rather than a one-time project. Don’t hesitate to go back and tweak your supply chain design when the environment changes and new problems appear to stay competitive.

You are now prepared to negotiate the challenging landscape of supply chain design thanks to your expertise in comprehending client needs, mapping your present supply chain, evaluating alternatives, and optimizing performance.

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Get ready to be mesmerized by the Supply Chain Analytics course, an in-depth learning experience with an astonishing 150+ hours of interactive sessions expertly led by the erudite instructors at IIM Raipur. After completing this esteemed certification program successfully, you’ll be well-equipped with the necessary abilities to survive in this dynamic sector and advance to desirable C-suite roles.

What is supply chain analytics and what does it do

Supply chain analytics is an integral part of the logistics operations that organisations use for extracting value and gaining information from the huge datasets relevant to goods procurement, processing and distribution. As an essential element of SCM, it involves using analytics software to enhance forecasting, operational efficiency and responsiveness to customer demands. For instance, to use point-of-sale terminal data in a demand signal repository, predictive analytics is used. Businesses use it to predict consumer demand to cut down on costs and deliver products faster.

Supply chain analytics holistically requires compiling all information relevant to its use case, from procuring raw materials to production, distribution and post-delivery services. All integrations between supply chain execution and management platforms fall under a company’s supply chain umbrella. This type of integration aims to provide complete supply chain visibility (viewing all data on the movement of goods in SCM). 

Supply chain analytics: How it works

Supply chain analytics helps in compiling data related to the supply chain. It spans multiple applications, third-party sources, infrastructure and upcoming technologies. Implementing technologies like IoT helps enhance the decision-making process for strategic, tactical and operational efficiency in SCM. 

Supply chain analytics is used for synchronising planning and execution in the supply chain by improving visibility in real time. These processes impact the customers and the overall profit of the company. Increased visibility enhances flexibility in the network by helping evaluate tradeoffs between customer service and costs.

Data scientists are primarily involved in the operations of supply chain analytics because they understand the data-driven analytical aspects of the business. They may involve factors related to:-

  • Cash flow
  • Inventory
  • Waste  
  • Service levels

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A successful supply chain management career will require you to look for correlations amongst multiple data elements for developing predictive models to optimise the supply chain output. You will need to test out a number of variations to achieve the ultimate robust business model.

Supply chain analytics features

A supply chain analytics software has to include the following features to achieve operation efficiency:-

  • Data visualisation: The ability to assess data from every angle to enhance understanding and achieve insight.
  • Social media integration: Utilising sentiment data derived from social feeds for enhancing demand planning.
  • Stream processing: Acquiring insight across multiple data streams generated by IoT, weather reports, applications and third-party data.
  • Location intelligence: Using locational data for comprehending and optimising distribution.
  • Natural language processing: Deriving and organising obscure data found in news sources, documents and data feeds.
  • The digital twin of the supply chain: Compiling data and organising it into a systematic model of the supply chain shared across various kinds of users to enhance prescriptive and predictive analytics.
  • Graph databases: Restructuring information into relevant elements, making it easier to locate connections, pinpoint patterns and enhance product, facility and supplier traceability.

Supply chain analytics types

The main supply chain analytics types are based on the four capabilities of analytics in Gartner’s model. They are described below:-

  • Descriptive: This form of supply chain analytics uses reports and dashboards to interpret daily happenings. It involves using a number of statistical methods to search, summarise and structure any data relevant to supply chain operations.
  • Diagnostic: This is primarily used to figure out why something occurred or why something is not working as it should. 
  • Predictive: This form of supply chain analytics uses current data to help foresee anything likely to happen in the future. 
  • Prescriptive: This form of supply chain analytics helps automate or prescribe the most ideal course of action with the help of optimisation logic or embedded decision logic. It helps enhance the decision-making process regarding product launches, building infrastructure (factory or warehouse) or the best shipping strategy for every location.

Uses of supply chain analytics 

Companies depend on supply chain analytics to help match supply with demand by developing plans aligning corporate strategy with everyday operations. Down below, we have elucidated the number of uses relevant to supply chain analytics:-

  • Avoid risks: It is used in risk management by pinpointing known risks and forecasting future risks using patterns and trends derived from data relevant to the supply chain.
  • Enhance order management: It is used for optimising the order management process by compiling all data sources for assessing inventory levels, predicting demand and identifying fulfilment issues.
  • Optimise procurement: It is used for streamlining procurement by analysing and organising net expenditure across multiple departments to enhance contract negotiations and pinpoint discount opportunities or alternative sources.
  • Enhance working capital: It is used for optimising the working capital by enhancing models to determine inventory levels required for ensuring service goals with minimal investment of capital.

Conclusion

The supply chain is directly impactful to businesses as it is entirely customer-centric and directly involves delivering products to consumers. Therefore, companies greatly depend on the efficiency of supply chain analytics because it helps protect the reputation of businesses and sustainability. Therefore, a supply chain management career is a highly lucrative one since all companies demand an expert in this field. You can start by applying for courses with certifications for supply chain professionals to kickstart your journey in SCM. The IIT Roorkee supply chain management course offered by Imarticus is a world-class course to begin with. 

4 highly underrated supply chain management and analytics skills

Supply chain management and analytics skills are in high demand in today’s business world. However, many people don’t realize how valuable these skills are until they have already learned them. Developing the most underrated talents in this field is essential to improving your career prospects. This post will discuss four of the most underrated supply chain management and analytics skills.

There are many reasons to consider a career in supply chain management. The field offers ample opportunities for growth and development and the chance to work in various industries. But what are some of the most underrated skills you’ll need for a successful career in supply chain management? Here are four essential skills that often go overlooked.

Here are the four underrated supply chain management and analytics skills:

Skill # 01: Advanced data analysis

Advanced data analysis is the most critical supply chain management and analytics skill. This skill allows you to make better decisions by understanding and interpreting complex data sets. Statistical modeling is another necessary skill, as it will enable you to identify patterns and trends in data.

Skill # 02: Strong business acumen

Business acumen is essential for success in supply chain management and analytics. This skill allows you to understand the complexities of the business world and make sound decisions based on that understanding. It’s also essential to think strategically, as many successful supply chain managers make decisions based on long-term strategies rather than short-term tactics.

Skill # 03: Collaborative skills

Collaborative skills are vital for success in supply chain management and analytics. This skill allows you to work effectively with people to achieve common goals. The ability to communicate verbally and non-verbally is also crucial for this role, as it helps that everyone is on the same page.

Skill # 04: Creativity and innovation

Creativity and innovation are both essential skills in supply chain management and analytics. This skill allows you to think outside of the box when it comes to solving problems or coming up with new ideas for products or services that will benefit your company’s customers. The ability to be creative will also help you come up with new ways of doing things, which will allow your team members to be more productive and efficient in their work.

The four skills highlighted in this article are highly underrated but essential for supply chain analytics courses. They can help you become the best analyst and decision-maker. If you want to be successful in supply chain management and analytics, make sure to focus on developing these skills.

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Why You Should Earn A Supply Chain Analytics Certification

Why You Should Earn A Supply Chain Analytics Certification

Supply Chain Analytics is an applied area of study under Supply Chain Management(SCM). It is the application of data to gain insight into massive amounts of data related to procurement, processing, and distribution. Supply Chain Analytics holds data supreme when making effective decisions about the organization. SCA uses a combination of relevant data in the form of graphs and charts. You can utilize cognitive technologies to make a more reasonable, learnable, and interactive approach.

Supply Chain Analytics uncovers patterns in data and generates insights using the same for making data-driven decisions. It is an essential part of SCM and is utilized by almost every field, from minor to more prominent companies. There are different types of SCA, including predictive, descriptive, cognitive, and prescriptive analytics. Overall, SCA assists an organization in its mental activities more quickly and efficiently.

Why is it essential?

Supply Chain Analytics can be used to benefit the organization in numerous ways. Let’s explore what the system offers in terms of Supply Chain Management.

  • Understand risks effectively

Supply Chain Analytics focuses on processing data and identifying its risks. It helps predict future threats and provides methods to avoid them. 

  • Limit costs and improve margins

By accessing data and implementing an integrated approach, you can enable the reduction of costs. Real-time tracking allows visibility as a feature that you can use to observe insights and operational efficacy.

  • Increase accuracy

When you can access data and analyze it according to systematic needs, you’re enabling a chain that honors predicting future demands. Doing so let you see what products need to be minimized according to their profit margin. It also assists you in understanding the client more effectively.

  • Monitor the supply chain

By using Supply Chain Analytics, you can see activities related to warehouses, partnerships, and customers. It helps you make a well-informed decision regarding the mentioned aspects.

  • Apply advanced analytics

By applying advanced analytics to your data, you can differentiate between structured and unstructured data, allowing organizations to devise optimal steps. Advanced analytics offers a real-time technology that provides tracking and supports new business strategies at the same time.

Career options in Supply Chain Industry

In terms of career options, you can choose from a range of fields. When working in planning, you have the opportunity to be a Buyer, Demand Planner, Master Planner, Production Planner, Inventory Analyst, Inventory Manager and Materials Manager.

If your niche is sourcing, you can go for titles like Category Manager, Commodity Manager, Procurement Specialist, Sourcing Manager and Purchasing Manager. If you want to be indulged in the production process, you can opt for titles like Operations Manager, Operations Director, Production Scheduler and Production Manager.

A career as Supply Chain Analyst can be a fulfilling position. If your primary inclination is toward delivering, you can go for the position of Logistics Coordinator, Logistics Manager, Operations Manager, and Transportation Analyst. In logistics, you will fetch the role of a Logistics Manager and Warehouse Manager.

If you wish to work in other roles of utmost importance, you can climb up to the Director of Supply Chain and Supply Chain Manager position. Additionally, you can be a consultant for firms seeking a candidate affluent in Supply Chain Analytics.

Conclusion

To implement the applied knowledge of Supply Chain Management, you must get your hands on a Supply Chain Analytics Certification course that will arm you with industry experience and a professional certificate in connection with the prestigious IIT, Roorkee. Supply Chain Management comes in many different fields, among which Supply Chain Analytics plays a vital part in determining the consequences of any action in the supply chain. You can pave your way into a future in Supply Chain Management by enrolling in a course that teaches you the basics and beyond of Supply Chain Analytics. 

A supply chain management online training course will instil hands-on learning alongside real-time projects on SCM. One of the many advantages of this course is that you get to learn from stalwarts and industry experts who take the time and effort to pass the knowledge to deserving candidates. Moreover, you can expect cut-throat competition in today’s industries, which can be overcome using techniques that pertain to positive outcomes for the organization. Furthermore, you can fill applications for high-demand jobs like  Operations and Supply Planner and Demand Planner once you have successfully completed the course.