Complex supply chains
31st January 2008 by Gail Van Den Bos1 Comment
We see a lot in the media about product recalls and product safety scares: these impact on brand reputation and cause customers to lose confidence.
And the items concerned come from supply chains that are a network of many unrelated organisations. These operate locally, nationally or internationally, all contributing to the delivery of a product or service to the end user, the consumer.
And these supply chains can be very complex. You may not realises it but:
“Before you have finished your breakfast this morning you will have relied on half the world “- Martin Luther King
It’s a huge task to control a supply chain throughout and may not even be possible. A customer (say a retailer) may not know with a degree of certainty that all parts of the network are under control. Indeed, the some organisations in the network will have little or no contact with the main customer and even less of an interest in the final consumer.
Yet each has its part to play in meeting the requirements and expectations placed on them by the organisation they immediately interface with (ie the company placing an order on them: taking their goods or services). And all companies need to know what their customers expect of them and make sure they supply it. And they may also need to be aware of the eventual end use of the product that their components are contributing to.
There may be many varied expectations between customers and suppliers that are exchanging their goods and services along the supply chain. And these are becoming increasingly varied.
Having many procedures and standards in place does not control the supply chains, as information may not be passed down it. The requirements needs to be embedded, and then continually validated such as through auditing. There is always a risk in a supply chain that something will go wrong. And it increases with the complexity of the network and the number of countries involved. And even if it’s a low or manageable risk, it’s still there.
Is there a need for the development of Supply Chain Management standards?? A harmonisation of standards could reduce costs: but would this increase the risk?
25th November 2008 at 3:02 pm
There is a definable need for supply chain standards, as they would facilitate end to end tracking of items. The UCC has helped with labeling requirements, but overall unit of measures are still lacking, as well as standard SKU pack configurations.
Kendall Gordan, SE
http://www.foxfiresoftware.com