Supply chain is the complete network of business partners that handles the procurement, manufacturing, and delivery of the right product at the right time to the right recipients. And Strategies are always helpful in achieving the long-term goals of the organization. And by integrating effective strategies into supply chains, organization can mitigate delays and inefficiencies in order to provide better service.
Supply chain is the linchpin for any organization, regardless of the sector, industry, product and processes. Every organization have its own challenges and hence dealing with Supply Chain is altogether different and the generics never fits in any industry.
The ten best possible Supply Chain strategies which will surely help you out if properly assessed and aligned to your organizational goals.
- Minimizing the delivery time and shipping cost
Delivery time is one of the key components of supply chain in order to increase customer experience while shipping cost must be taken care of on the part of organization. Exploring multi distribution center operation must be carried out. The cost of setting up the operations in terms of additional facility, staffing, management etc. must be considered.
- Minimizing the processing time and enhancing documentation
In order to minimize the processing time and optimum documentation, barcode has been proven to be one of the foundation technologies for warehousing systems and automation. Implementation of barcode system will help you to boost the productivity and save your time a lot.
- Third party logistics Vs Internal Fulfillment
Choosing third party logistics in place of internal fulfillment must be taken after a lot of brainstorming taking consideration all possible points. The goal is to achieve faster delivery with multiple distribution centers. This strategy may not be applicable for every company.
- Capacity increment of existing warehouse
Warehousing capacity issue has been there from times when it comes to supply chain. Before setting up the warehouse at another location you should focus on the optimization of space of existing warehouse and stretching the size of the same.
- Effective management of workforce
In most of the fulfillment centers and warehouses, mostly manual labor force is being employed which is a costly affair. Managing manual labor force more strategically is one of the first and foremost goal for your organization. Per unit target management must be implemented.
- Efficiency of In-bound supply chain
No matter, on which point you are adding value in the business process, inbound logistics play a much important role to complete it gracefully. It is the major initiative for any organization to get inbound materials and products. In order to make the inbound supply chain more efficient we suggest you to assess the points below: –
- Assessing the current problems and the cost related in order to rework non-compliant receipts in both the fulfillment center and back office will help you to understand what needs to be done
- List out the vendors which causes delay and majority of cost problems
- Implementation of Vendor Compliance Program will help you in growing more productive business relations with your back-end suppliers
- Minimizing outbound shipping cost
To establish the smoother and efficient supply chain process, an organization must place a check point on outbound shipping cost as it’s one of the most on-going activities. The cost of outbound shipping exceeds the sum of all other fulfillment costs. Analyzing the shipping data and determining the scope of improvement like better negotiation of rates can help to minimize the outbound shipping cost. Best way shipping, faster package throughput, weight accuracy, addresses errors, reducing IT costs can be some area of improvements.
- Increasing the numbers of order picked
Order accuracy & timely fulfillment of orders are important keys to customer experience. Picking and packing are two activities where organization can work on cost saving and efficient labor management. Robotics automation may be the one of the best options for larger distribution centers. Voice picking, pick to light, picking modules will also be very helpful.
- Efficient use of warehouse
Warehouse management is one of the costly and expensive affairs for any organization. It has been estimated that often warehouse space is 15-20% of the cost per order. Increasing capacity of the warehouse will help you the manage it more efficiently. It is suggested to perform a space use study and finalize solutions in terms of layout, product flow, labor efficiency, storage, material handling options, safety, throughput etc.
- Implementation of new information system
The strategic objective is to establish an easy to use and readily information on the fingertips. ERP, OMS, WMS etc. are the processes which many organizations adopts to make the process smooth. Still, many organizations need new systems which includes more advanced technologies and automation for better productivity.
