Demand Driven Supply Chain

Over the passage of time, the concept of supply chain and planning has gained considerable need on the retail brand in the society today. It is because the two are interred twined based on the end product and the needs of the consumer. As such, most of the companies have noticed the gap that exists between supply chain and the final product given to the consumer. Retrospectively, they have invested a great deal of manpower and resources into planning solutions to respond to the need and remain competitive in the market. The primary focus of such a move is to gain an actual picture of the visibility related to material costs across the supply chain division. To respond to this need, many service providers have come up such as Oracle and SAP. Typically, students majoring in Logistics & supply Chain Management, who need help with their logistics assignment, can go through this brief understanding of demand driven supply chain and how it is changing the Logistics landscape across the world. Harvard Business Review case studies helps students understand the approach to dissect a supply chain management case study for their university assessments.

It is evident that even though most of the companies have developed such unique planning solutions. However, the primary question is how to balance between the demand points to control the variability related to customer demand. At this point, the focal point is how to annihilate the needs of the customers through the supply chain to ensure efficient service delivery and quality goods. In recent times, supply chain service provider namely JDA organized their annual event referred to as Focus. They discussed a great deal about the new form of information technology solutions that companies can adopt to make the supply chain division efficient. At that point, the organizers emphasized a great deal in the generation of the next form of retail-based supply chain solutions.

The findings revealed the service gap that exists between supply chain and the procedures used to deliver the final products to the consumers. For instance, it is pertinent that most of the organizations especially the ones dealing with retail services have developed certain procedures in their supply chain. Hence, they have adopted some tools and solutions that help them harmonize their chains of suppliers like those dealing with transportation and the manufacturers. The groups in the supply chain include those that transport materials to the final consumer, the manufacturers who develop the end product, and the retailers who respond to the needs of the customers. However, the critical aspect represented here is how they manage the supply chain to reduce the challenges raised in the preceding sections of the article.

Various approaches have been adopted regarding supply chain based on the needs of the organizations and the target market. The retail section has implemented various approaches to ensure the planning aspect becomes accurate from the perspective of the distribution center. One of the ways adopted is the historical shipment based forecast. However, this kind of planning does not augur well with the changing patterns of future demand. The other technique adopted relates to the traditional collaborative planning that incorporates the consensus of manufacturers and retailers. Consequently, they use the forecast to develop demand picture for the future in a more holistic and realistic manner.

What would occur if the needs of the consumer are not met due to planning shortcomings? Such question rings in the mind of the marketers and the individuals in charge of the supply chain. It is imperative to note that lack of proper planning affects the overall service delivery and the needs of the final consumer. Even though most of the companies have adopted a collaborative form of a supply chain, it is difficult to rely on such technique to predict future demand forecast. Therefore, the organizations can lose their customers if that need is not solved in a collaborative manner.

Planning

It is important to incorporate planning into supply chain. Hence, the need to take into account the needs of the final consumer all through the planning stage to the intermediaries involved in the supply chain. Consequently, it will lead to dissatisfaction on the part of the consumer if their needs are not met in an efficient manner as depicted in the picture below.

It is important to conduct proper planning especially in the retail function within the supply chain. Retail solution and planning would entail coming up with the demand driven form of supply chain referred to as flow casting. Such form of planning will ensure that the correct demand picture will be passed to the other players in the supply chain. It will reduce instances of disappointed customers and lead to efficiency in service delivery.

Finally, the intermediaries in the supply chain must work together to increase efficiency and improve customer satisfaction. The adoption of the new cloud-based solution closes the loop in the supply chain and effectively monitors the overall flow of services.

Summary

The concept of demand forecasting and supply chain is important to the success of the organization and customer satisfaction. Therefore, it is important to adopt a system that takes into account the needs of the customers and the positive impact of a good supply chain. Consequently, the adoption of a mechanism that responds to the needs of the customers will augur well with the profits and image of the company. Concisely, it is paramount to plan by taking into account the needs of the customers in the supply chain and the objectives of the company based on demand.