Supply chain management has progressed and evolved from simple purchasing of items to the entire process of procuring raw material and consumablesupto the final product shipment to warehouses and customers. Supply chain management now involves all the activities within a business, and this has led to the search for tools such as lean that help eliminate waste in processes activities and also help determine if unprofitable stocks are being produced or not and whether the entire activity of supply chain management is generating positive cash flow for the company.
The fast-changing business environment around the world has led to constant pressure from the market and from customers, which are volatile, diverse and complex. There is increased interdependence at every level, and business need to be trim and lean. Supply chain consulting companies in India have their finger on the pulse. They help their client companies become highly adept and professional in identifying potential markets and keeping business in their client companies highly flexible to change at short notice to market and customer demands.
Supply chain management consulting.
Supply chain consulting companies immediately focus the attention of their client companies to cost such as operational expenditure, speed and delivery as most customers are looking for immediate order deliveries. Long lead times stretching into weeks are a thing of the past.
A supply chain consultant will work in several ways and provide workable solutions for his or her client. Some of the methods used will be
Strategy and organisation- This methodology will involve analysing the costs and benefits of make versus buy and will involve looking at outsourcing. The consultant will also look at the segmentation of different activities.
Another method used by supply chain consultants in India is advanced network optimisation. Some of the methodologies involves plant network optimisation and distribution centre optimisation
Supply chain consultants in India also bring in a lot of automated activities into supply chain management. They help create what is known as bionic supply chains.
Supply chain consulting involves performance monitoring and benchmarking. Consultants bring with them a range of experience and knowledge of best practices.
There is an end to end supply chain optimisation and planning. This activity involves sales and operations planning along with inventory management. These activities help weed out unprofitable and wasteful processes as well as material and help the company trim wasteful expenditure.
Logistics is a very important aspect of any business. A supply chain management consultant will also focus on the proper warehouse and transportation management to ensure a swift and quick flow of both material and products.
One of the biggest learnings given by supply chain consulting companies is that of risk management and sustainability. These are the steps to be taken by companies to survive adverse conditions and handle risk in the line of business.
Precious deliverables by Supply chain management consultants
Supply chain consultants work in several ways. Some consultants call executives and heads from the client companies. They are called to the academy or the corporate office of the consulting company and given workshops and even sessions on real-time simulation of supply chain management and also trained on how to overcome these problems. Supply chain management consultants in India provide supply chain management diagnostics and help identify benchmarks of best industry practices.
One of the most perceptible and eve opening results given by supply chain management consultants is cutting lead times of delivery of products by half and then demonstrating how to do it.
