Supply chain management has been an issue of concern all over the world. The process through a product is manufactured and passed through machinery until it reaches to the final consumer is referred to as the supply chain process. Some process may be automated while others may be manualized. In either case there are both cost and benefits of using either. Therefore, it remains paramount for organizations to have a lean supply chain management process that will be able to manage the needs of clients and customers in the effective way possible (Monczka, 2015). The process deals with the flow of goods from the manufacturer to the final consumer. Both goods and services can go through a given form of supply chain management process. The process differ from one organization to another based on the type of commodity supplier by the firm. Some have a long process while others have a short one (John, 2014). The aim of the process is to optimize efficiency and increase speed in delivery of goods and services to the final consumers at the end of every business day.
Compare Dell’s supply chain and logistics innovations with the competitive responses from competitors such as the Apple Store and others.
The solid difference between Dell and Apple is the inventory management system. More often Dell uses a direct strategy in handling its customers while ensuring it maintains zero stock. It manages to achieve so by ensuring that it only makes a computer only when the customers place an order (Gao and profile, 2018). Additionally, the order is made to meet the customer specification in all material aspects. This does not only saves Dell the inventory cost but also it saves it the storage costs as well as providing it with pricing advantage over other organizations. Real-time manufacturing process to ensure it has zero inventories (Gao and profile, 2018). On the other hand Apple deal with large volumes of inventory that they purchase before time, hedging the prices and also creating barriers that deter competitors from getting them. The two methods of managing inventory are the risk and distinctive in their own ways. However, the companies have different ways of mitigating risks that may come along with their risky strategies. Dell always directs its attention to forces of demand and supply and critical analysis of data kept in their huge databases. A lean system has always been the way for Dell to remain competitive in the PC markets which is ever changing and diverse (Gao and profile, 2018). However, Apply uses vigorous marketing strategies to attract its pool of customers who go about purchasing its products and that no inventories will be left out. Dell customizes its products as per customer specification while Apple follows a unified strategy that focuses on a push approach where products are sold to the customer rather than the other way round where customers demand the products (Gao and profile, 2018).
To a great extent, both Dell and Apple tend to have a simplified kind of supply chain process where they ensure that most of the middlemen between the manufacturer and the customers are reduced. Therefore, much focus has been made on direct sales in an attempt to cut off the retailers from the supply chain process. Through their own processes, they are in a position to inventory costs considerably.
Discuss the emerging supply chain and logistics management factors shown in the video that was already negatively affecting large computer chain stores.
Use of trolley in loading and the offloading computer is a major issue that has really affected the way computer industry has been performing over decades (Gao and profile, 2018). From the video, it was evidently clear that after the computer was ready, they were on-boarded in a trolley pushed and pulled by employees. The pulling and pushing of such trolley may cause the way computers to wear and tear thus reducing the quality of the product produced. With the automated process as evidenced in Dell assembly process where all materials were fed into the system by employees and then later assembled and tested to confirm it is good working condition was not convincing enough since a lot of time wasted (Gao and profile, 2018). Additionally, the assembly took 4 hours for a single computer. However. Strategies were being put in place to ensure that the time was reduced to 2 hours. This will ensures that the lead time is reduced and that customers receive their order on a timely basis. Transportation of products has also been another issue of concern since it has made many laptops obsolete and has made the company lose asset thus suffering huge losses. Theft during transportation is another thing that managers are trying to manage to ensure that huge losses are not incurred within the organization (Gao and profile, 2018). In an attempt to curb the issues proper mechanisms are being put in place that will see all processes are automated in a bid to meet the customer’s expectation at the cheapest and friendly price possible.
Integrated solutions are other things that are emerging in supply chain in different organizations and thus firms have to understand the importance of integration. However, many firms fails to understand the vitality of consolidating solutions in order to achieve synergy as the end goal (Wilson, 2018). Flexible infrastructure is one thing that management in an organization should look into to facilitate proper communications protocols with an effective highly integrated supply chain system (Scm.ncsu.edu., 2018). The integrated systems allow employees to view the data easily to facilitate analysis in the long term with a goal of identifying nuances or issue within the system that need redress. Additionally, competition in business results from supply chain process have been integrated in a bid to achieve all the set goals in an organization (Christopher, 2016). An effective supply chain system ensures that organization meets all its goals in a cost effective manner.
Collection of data is another aspect that has influenced the supply chain process considerably and business are working to ensure that they can keep up with changes in data collected in order to boost the mechanisms in which a customer is fairly executed. Having accurate data will ensure that all customers’ specifications are met in wider perspective and responded to in a short while (Jacobs et al., 2016) This reduces margin of error and makes everything runs smoothly as expected by the management.
Explain how these technology-driven factors were not enough to enable some businesses to survive the online competitive entrance into the market.
Dynamics in the technological market have made the world of supply chain management to be so breathtaking to many industries all over (Stadtler, 2015). Any organization which has no stamina to withstand the competitive technological world has to chuck the market and allow the real giant firms to deal with the changes in the market. Interestingly is the fact that an organization has to develop ways that will ensure it still remains in the market as much as possible (Fan et al., 2017 The technology to a better degree was fully outdated and this insinuated that they were not in a better position to compete with another firm all over the world making them extinct. Therefore, it is upon the management of a firm to keep up with the current technology for it to remain within the market.
Conclusion
Supply chain makes a business stand if properly managed and additionally it helps the organization understand its full potential by ensuring it can meet all its costs in regard to supply chain process. A well-managed chain reduces lead time, avoid stock out and matches the customer’s expectation at all costs.
References
Gao, S. and profile, V. (2018). Supply Chains in Dell and Apple. [online] Cmuscm.blogspot.com. Available at: https://cmuscm.blogspot.com/2013/02/supply-chains-in-dell-and-apple.html [Accessed 12 Jun. 2018].
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=10070
Wilson, M. (2018). 2014: 5 Emerging Trends in Supply Chain Management. [online] Afflink.com. Available at: https://www.afflink.com/blog/2014-5-emerging
Scm.ncsu.edu. (2018). Emerging Issues in Supply Chain | Supply Chain Resource Cooperative | NC State University. [online] Available at: https://scm.ncsu.edu/scm-articles/article/category/emerging-issues-in-supply-chain [Accessed 13 Jun. 2018].trends-in-supply-chain-management [Accessed 13 Jun. 2018].
Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Jacobs, F. R., Chase, R. B., & Lummus, R. R. (2014). Operations and supply chain management (pp. 533-535). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Stadtler, H. (2015). Supply chain management: An overview. In Supply chain management and advanced planning (pp. 3-28). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Fan, T., Tao, F., Deng, S., & Li, S. (2015). Impact of RFID technology on supply chain decisions with inventory inaccuracies. International Journal of Production Economics, 159, 117-125.
Monczka, R. M., Handfield, R. B., Giunipero, L. C., & Patterson, J. L. (2015). Purchasing and supply chain management. Cengage Learning.
John, F. R., Chase, R. B., & Lummus, R. R. (2014). Operations and supply chain management (pp. 533-535). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
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