The Agile Supply Chains

One of the biggest challenges facing organizations today is the need to respond to ever-increasing volatility. For a variety of reasons, product and technology lifecycles are shortening, competitive pressures force more frequent changes of products and consumers demand more variety than ever before. To meet this challenge the needs of organizations to achieve greater agility such that it can respond in shorter time-frame in terms of both volume change and modify different. In other words, it is necessary to be able to quickly adjust output to match market demand and quickly switch from one to another to another. In addition, the organization of interacting elements (supply-chains is one example) can become agile and increase their response if they accommodate a variety of different types of changes are enough. The paragraphs that follow describe some of the solid strategic requirements for the types of changes that need to be accommodated.

Demand Management

As more and more partnerships focus on improving quality and customer responsiveness of their operations, attention tends to increasingly invade their supply chain. Demand uncertainty in supply chains can be accomplished by faster response times. A major product supply chain could lead times and batch manufacturing of large sized lots to meet demand. A supply chain that makes mass customization of fashion or product should be responded to faster and faster. Most supply chains are moving in the direction to support a more rapidly changing consumer demand or customer.

Flexibility

Critical issues in the market today to identify the economically successful business and contribute to the increasingly dynamic environment supply chain flexibility with respect to quantity, type and grade of product, time and expense of moving, predictability of production, reproducibility of the transition and strict quality control.

Delay

Customer demands and volatile markets is a common practice in many industries and more and more companies are now forced to consider delaying their supply chain. Procrastination centers around the delaying of activities in the supply chain until customer orders are received, rather than performing them in the hope of future customer orders or performing them with a focus on customization and cost efficiency. Contributes to agile abilities Moratorium by:

-The customization of products and services (customized and localized assembly, etc.).

-The use of customer information to all supply chain (supply chain operations linked to the customer order, etc.).

Street-functional effort involved in assembling products in the distribution channel (the linking of manufacturing and distribution, potentially even product design through the design of products around modularity and commonality)

-The critical role of network suppliers to delay, given the need for availability of generic modules and customized components before assembly, etc..

Sa rover example, the funnel CB40 design for production can also provide the level of customer needs options without prejudicing the economy of the vehicle.

Pareto curve approach

According to Pareto, The 80/20 Rule means that in any of several (20 percent) are vital and many (80 percent) have no value. By applying this principle to products and customers for considering that 20% of the products can reach 80% of the total demand and 20% of sales compared to 80% of total sales, many companies are able to succeed by focusing on partnerships with several major customers and striking the right fit between market demand and product ranges.

Collaboration with suppliers

Strategic alliances and partnerships are essential for a successful supply chain quickly. They encourage companies to focus their attention throughout the supply chain and reduce the number of suppliers they deal with. Many companies have developed preferred vendor (supplier) program, as well as major carriers, to ensure that quality products are received where and when it is needed.

A successful strategic alliance / partnership has the following features: Extreme -Win/win relationship of trust - Team building - Common goals in collaboration (willingness to help, better negotiations, less money driven).

Two examples can be drawn from M & S and Rover case:

-In 1998, the relationship between M & S and its suppliers have made a role model for British industry. M & S itself has acknowledged that his success owed much to long-standing partnerships with leading suppliers.

-Land Rover progressively reduced its supplier base from 2000 to below 1000 over the decades before CB40 and reduced it to 146 more just then. Joint technology reviews and join in resolution of problems with suppliers as part of the Pirates of the strategy has helped in maintaining a number of qualified providers.

Virtual Integration

As the power of the market shifts to customers, more pressure is placed on the manufacturer to deliver a wider variety of products, high quality and a shorter lead time, than ever before. The Internet provides every buyer a world of choices to choose from. Suppliers must work harder and smarter than ever to survive and succeed. Sa interconnected world today, responding to customer demand almost always involves not only the manufacturer of the product itself, but also a whole range of suppliers and their service providers. The activities of the supply chain has been orchestrated, using Internet technology for communication, through the Supply Chain Management and collaborative planning applications that are coming into more widespread use. A Virtual Factory enables distributed facilities to perform in concert as if they were a single plant. It consists of an infrastructure and a range of applications, within a connected supply chain, allowing production schedules, product data (configuration, definition of process), plant data and status information that synchronized and made available throughout the chain. Land Rover Company used an example CB40 development strategy based on a sophisticated information technology infrastructure, including network CAD / Cam facility and modeling of virtual reality. This is really the main thing that pirates have experienced revolution.

Cross-docking

Cross-docking means to take a finished good from the manufacturing plant and deliver it directly to the customer with little or no handling in between. Cross-docking reduces the handling and storage of inventory, the step of filling a warehouse with inventory before sending it is virtually eliminated.

For example, cross-docking system Wal-Mart, the products are delivered to Wal-Mart warehouses on an ongoing basis where they are sorted, repackaged, and distributed to the store without sitting in inventory. Goods "cross" from a loading dock at one of 48 hours or less. This system allows Wal-Mart to purchase full truckloads of goods while avoiding inventory and handling costs, the process reduces the cost of sales 2 to 3 percent lower than industry average. Wal-Mart then passes these cost savings to its customers as lower prices. Low price that would enable them to forgo the often discount promotions, which stabilizes prices. This makes sales more predictable, thus reducing stock outs and the need for excess inventory.

Conclusion

Agile is the essence of supply chain management. Adaptive, fast move is necessary for an effective SC. To Each one should be handled differently. Each customer has its own set of instructions and requirements to satisfy his sc. The logistics director must be a master in managing a rapidly SC that the scope and extent. The pressure for the SCS that fast would continue. Information technology and collaboration is also important to agility success. Time needs, pressures of inventory, cost and service requirements and continued global supply chain complexity demand it.

Roger Achkar is a well-known Lebanese award-winning author and business thinker. He has appeared on most TV stations in the Middle East.

Roger is currently the CEO of Sharp thinking ', a Lebanese management consulting firm. Dating, Roger held numerous senior and managerial positions in multinational and regional organizations and held a track record of business success across multiple industries such as E-Business Management and Consulting, Power generation, HVAC and Water technology, Telecom, and Wholesale and Distribution.

Roger held a Masters in Electromechanical Engineering from Saint Joseph University in Lebanon, a Bachelor of Law from the Lebanese University, a Masters in Management Systems and Engineering from Supelec University in France and an MBA from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom. He is also a doctorate student in Social Sciences at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.

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