Question

Push and pull processes are two important and useful concepts in supply chain management. Use two real-world examples to critically discuss the proper process a supply chain manager needs to adopt when demand is stable

Answer 1

Pull process in supply chain is the process where the manufacturing and supplying is driven by actual customer demand.and under Push process,the logistics are driven by long-term projections of customer demand or anticipated customer demand.

No business uses only one of them.Their combinations should be made and used wisely by the managers of any organisation.Their is a time and strategy difefrence in their implications in organisations.Usually when there is a case of stable demand , the managers should use push strategy well in advance to take greater benefit from it.It is important to remember that not all businesses can have stable demand and that is the reason they use mostly a combination of both strategies.But in the case of stable demand, there is less neeed to do so.The manager should put its main focus on planning the push strategies if the demand is stable.

Examples-

Cherry crumble, a brand of especially winter clothing,have an anticipated customer demand for winter clothing so they start to manufacture warm clothes as soon as the summer season ends. This push strategy becomes valuable to this company as it helps plan them for events in the future and be prepared when winter comes. This gives the brand meet their needs in time and also gives them time to figure out and compensate the logistics lead times and warehousing the sufficient inventory nearby the end users.

Hallmark is a company which produces decorative items for christmas and christmas ornaments. It has long term projections of customer demand in this festival. So it begins production well in advance to maintain sufficient stock to fulfill the market demand during Christmas season.

These were two real life examples of how the management uses strategy while they have estimated a stable demand for their product in the market.