Supply chain planning is integral to the success of any business. The appropriate planning strategies can create a competitive advantage and yield substantial returns. However, despite its importance, many organisations struggle to realise its true strategic value.
Supply chain management enables effective and economical operations, allowing businesses to maximise earnings while improving customer experience. Further advantages like lowering lead times, eliminating waste, boosting visibility, and facilitating supplier collaboration help businesses become more competitive.
To instate a successful supply chain planning process, it is essential to understand the nuances of the market and identify areas that can give a competitive edge. This requires organisations to have a well-structured planning system that takes into account the industry dynamics. Then, using a combination of methodologies and technologies, they can optimise their supply chains, create long-term value, and unlock incredible growth opportunities.
How to set the foundation for supply chain planning
When aiming to build the perfect supply chain, three simple yet effective steps bring about a significant difference.
- Identifying the strategic goals: This involves understanding the organisation’s mission and objectives to identify the desired direction for an appropriate strategy.
- Developing the supply chain: Strategic planning involves utilising sophisticated technology and analytics to create processes that support the organisation’s objectives and produce desired results. For a successful supply chain, communication and collaboration among stakeholders are imperative. It is also essential to understand the different elements of the supply chain and their respective roles and ensure that all activities align with the identified strategic goals.
- Improving forecasting accuracy: This involves using data and analytics to adapt the supply chain strategy to accurately predict customer demand and ensure a more efficient and effective flow of products and services.
Initiatives for moving towards strategic value
Moving towards strategic value is a comprehensive guide for understanding and achieving higher efficiency and performance in your supply chain. However, 52.17 per cent are still considering using more innovative supply chain planning options for this purpose.
- Increasing collaboration and network optimisation: This involves efficiently managing teams and stakeholders to create an effective working environment. It includes optimising communications, coordinating resources and developing processes for maximum collaboration.
- Automating planning processes: This refers to using technology and software to automate tasks, such as scheduling, budgeting and forecasting. It can lead to improved efficiency and reduce time spent on repetitive tasks.
- Analysing and using big data: This means collecting, analysing and using huge amounts of data to identify trends and improve decision-making. It requires understanding the collected data and identifying the precise way to interpret it for useful insights.
The road to creating true strategic value in supply chain planning is long. It starts with a proper understanding of the supply chain environment and its complexities and culminates in having a streamlined and successful supply chain planning process. It involves years of hard work and dedication, but the payoff is great in the end.
Companies that continuously strive to create true strategic value in their supply chain planning will be rewarded with improved competitiveness, enhanced customer satisfaction and increased profitability. So, suppose you are serious about positively impacting your company’s strategy. In that case, it is time to get to work and begin discovering the advantages of creating true strategic value in supply chain planning.
The author Vivek Juneja, Founder & Managing Director at Varuna Group
