Procured goods and services already comprise 60% of an organisation’s cost base, and this figure is growing rapidly. The challenges for procurement and supply chain leaders are many: they must deliver despite the uncertain business environment, mitigate against complex reputational and legal risks, and meet growing demand borne by product proliferation and globalisation.
An efficient supply chain is vital for businesses to deliver their products to the consumers who want or need them. As the global marketplace continues to evolve, supply chain managers must think more innovatively and proactively to balance product flow and costs throughout a product’s life cycle.
Our expert teams ensure procurement and supply chain leaders respond effectively for lasting success. We help you create exceptional results through innovative procurement and achieve competitive advantage by transforming the supply chain.
Supply chains have never been more stressed. Most companies today operate global supply chains driven by a need to grow their market share in emerging markets and a desire to take advantage of lower cost supply. Consequently, supply chain risk has increased significantly - price volatility, financial threats and supplier issues are damaging performance.
MSC Group SEE believes that by refocusing on extended supply chains as a source of competitive advantage, organisations can position themselves to go further, faster. The supply chain compass explores what supply chain leaders should be doing to reduce risk and release cash and cost from the supply chain; to address continuing globalization; and to adapt strategies for green issues. The publication includes articles on:
Managing supply chain risks
In recent years, with significant areas of operations being outsourced to third parties on a global basis, the spend and proportion of critical business processes under procurement management has increased. As a result, procurement is now custodian of a number of major risks to businesses. In a time of global financial uncertainty it is imperative that the purchasing function correctly manages risk in the supply chain, including but not isolated to that presented by price volatility.
Synchronizing supply chains through integrated planning
No company can predict a financial crisis or an economic recession. But today's successful companies have a planning model in place that allows them to adjust their supply chains quickly in response to market changes. These companies have integrated their demand and supply planning activities, with sales and operations planning (S&OP) being the key enabling process.
Putting customers first in supply chains
Companies with customer-driven supply at the heart of their supply chain strategy have designed and aligned their processes in order to achieve the objective of winning the customer at the point of use or at the point of sale. The upstream supply chain is then designed back from here. This is a significant mindset change and turns the supply chain from having a cost reduction focus only, into becoming flexible and responsive. This more service-oriented approach creates a commercial competitive edge.
Supply chain super-modelling for smarter decisions
Standard supply chain network optimization tools minimize the cost of physical goods movements. Super modelling goes significantly beyond in its capabilities to also include end-to-end supply chain and operations planning aspects such as supply management, order management, manufacturing planning and delivery management. A supply chain supermodel can simulate the flow of orders and operations, rules and constraints from order intake through to customer acceptance.
Planning globally, executing regionally, adapting locally
Globalization has already lengthened and increased the complexity of supply chains, and competition is indeed no longer about single organisations, but about competing supply chains. In addition, the current uncertainty and volatility within the economy are compounding the challenges on global supply chains. So, in this kind of environment, what does a winning global supply chain strategy look like and what can senior supply chain executives do to maintain competitive advantage?