Question

Compose a one-page, double-spaced theme in Word that lists two companies that utilize Supply Chain Management. You cannot use the following companies mentioned in this chapter. Coca-Cola, Farms.com, Powersourceonline.com, abcfurniture.com, New England Wood (Links to an external site.), Vermont Hardware or Furniture Distribution Company. You also cannot use the two vendors listed in the video: Justine's Shoes and Safeway. For each of the two companies you list, write about what improvements the SCM software brought to their companies. Remember to cite your sources, using the Adding Citations directions that follow.

Answer 1

Any supply chain is a link and set of information, product or service, movement from one stage to another. In short, the supply chain can be explained as the logical and physical movement of goods and information. Consumers provide the requirement, shops, or retail to provide them the good as per the requirement. This is the front end of a B2C supply chain.

The entire process of the supply chain can be divide into the following aspects:

• Procurement
• Planning
• Logistics
• Manufacturing
• Warehousing
• Quality control
• Distribution channels

In this case, we can consider two brands – Yakult and Saudi Aramco. Yakult is a fermented drink that is filled with good bacteria that are proven to have positive effects on the human body. Each little bottle contains around 6.5 billion of unique bacteria which are good for health.

If we look at the supply chain of Yakult, there is a lot of complexities that need to be considered. The supply chain is also considering the bottles which they prepare at their plant. They take raw materials such as plastic polystyrene and aluminum foil and use a patented design for the bottle. The materials used for the solution include water, skimmed milk, glucose, and patented lactobacillus casei Shirota which is the unique bacteria that makes the product so well received across the globe. The major factories are in Thailand and they have a unique set of suppliers who share the product to consumers. All the raw materials are supplied through a unique set of products who ensure the materials reach the manufacturing plant and from there the final product is shared to warehouse and materials are then shared to the distribution centers

The major part of Yakult`s business model is to ensure there is a proper forecast of the demand from the market. This can be done accurately using software tools and analytics. Reports suggest that they use regression analysis for forecasting sales for upcoming months and the forecast is done on a month to month basis. To ensure the forecasting accuracy is high they use high accuracy tools. The tools are integrated with inventory models and they ensure only the required quantities are received from the suppliers. They do not push the products into the market but rather they prepare the products from a demand basis. The demand along with bullwhip factor is shared with the suppliers and the inventory models are created accordingly to ensure there are minimum inventory holding costs. Yakult uses SAP tools for effective demand planning. The various modules including DP/SNP/PPDS and gATP ensure that the demand planning is done strictly on the basis of the customer demand that is shared by the regional sales teams. The order fulfillment is done based on the requests received from various retail outlets and sales teams. Products are prepared and since there is a shelf life to the product, there is a FIFO model while distributing the products.

The other firm that can be considered is Saudi Aramco. Aramco is a world leader in the petrochemical segment. They have a very complex process involved in daily activities. To manage the entire process in a single module, they have integrated various segments through ERP solutions. The procurement and supply chain division uses a world-class control tower solution that has end to end visibility of all activities involved in the supply chain. Users can track inventory, vehicle movement, production planning, customer demands, and market insights in a single dashboard. This is made possible only through the use of SCM software and integration between all layers of the tool. Having an integrated solution provides users will real-time insights, data visualization, and tools to analyze and take faster decisions. The enablement of SCM software has brought a digital transformation to the firm and has provided a well-built platform for the company`s growth.

References:

• Goodwin, B. (2015, October 26). Yakult uses data analytics to boost growth in the Netherlands by 20%. Retrieved from https://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500256114/Yakult-uses-data-analytics-to-boost-growth-in-the-Netherlands-by-20
• Arabia Sun Staff ( 2019, May 08). Media Publications Saudi Aramco. Retrieved from https://www.saudiaramco.com/-/media/publications/arabian-sun/2019/2019-19.pdf