Supply Leaders Academy

5 Ways to Outsmart your Competitor in Supply Chain

15.01.18 11:03 AM By Randall Mauldin
Today’s competition is tough. If you do not innovate, you will surely put your company at risk. In short, doing what you have always done in the past is no longer acceptable. Every business owner or manager must know that improving your organizational structure as well as adopting methods and processes that will make your company “best in class” is of high importance. What makes a supply chain organization standout? The answer will vary depending on what strategies will suite your company. What makes a supply chain organization best in class? The answer will vary for each company, but there are some practices that many leading companies are adopting now. Supply Leaders Academy lists 5 key practices that you should have in your supply chain to outsmart your competition.
  1. Establish alliances with key suppliers
Do not cut your ties immediately with your suppliers once a contract is done. Maintain a friendly and professional relationship with your trusted and quality suppliers. Most companies practice supplier relationship management, this helps establish alliances with key suppliers.   Bob Engel, listed four objectives of an effective alliance management program, such as:
  1. Provide a mechanism to ensure that the relationship stays healthy and vibrant
  2. Create a platform for problem resolution
  3. Develop continuous improvement goals with the objective of achieving value for both parties
  4. Ensure that performance measurement objectives are achieved
 
  1. Properly select staff and align their expertise
A few organizations are best served by placing capable production network administration experts in different specialty units. For others, a more unified operation is best. A significant number of the dynamic organizations we have worked with, in any case, have embraced a crossover approach that joins a brought together methodology to pick up agreement with decentralized execution to enhance benefit. Another developing pattern we have seen includes setting acquisition, coordination, contract administration, and estimating/request arranging and comparable administration works under the production network pioneer. You can train your staff by encouraging them to pursue trainings and continuing education, such as procurement training, getting certified as a Professional in Supply Management by the ISM.  
  1. Establish appropriate levels of control to minimize the risk
Supply chain management strategies and methods ought to take after a proper grouping and structure, and it is critical to survey them as often as possible (if not always) and convey them up and coming. Keeping them practical and straightforward and take after will guarantee consistency. Best organizations intermittently audit their approaches and controls to guarantee that they are not making bottlenecks. Their goal is to streamline them without giving up the capacity of those controls to hinder robbery, misrepresentation, and different issues. Mitigating the risk is an inseparable unit with approaches and controls, and best-in-class supply chain associations incorporate hazard alleviation techniques into their sourcing choice process. This is a convoluted subject that we can address just quickly here, however to put it plainly, these associations are receiving sound techniques that include:(1) identifying all of the risk elements, (2) determining the probability of the risk event occurring, (3) assessing the dollar impact on the sourcing decision if the risk event actually takes place, and (4) prioritizing risks for monitoring and prevention.  
  1. Engage in collaborative strategic sourcing
Strategic sourcing is a foundation of fruitful inventory network administration. Be that as it may, a collective strategic sourcing activity creates far and away superior outcomes. As opposed to consider strategic sourcing as only an issue for the buying division, best-in-class associations get inner "clients" effectively engaged with the basic leadership process. All the more critically, they request input and data with respect to their goals and procedures from those clients, which may incorporate utilitarian zones, for example, fund and bookkeeping, building, operations, upkeep, security/wellbeing/condition, and quality confirmation—any inward specialty unit or capacity that will add to the activity's prosperity. This approach guarantees accessibility of provisions as well as results in bring down aggregate cost, streamlined procedures, and expanded responsiveness to clients' evolving needs.  
  1. Make use of technology
Technology makes the workload of professionals bearable. Managers understand that there are programming software that can help them monitor their inventory, supply and demand. This makes tracking a whole lot easier. There are just some of the key components that will help you outsmart your competitor. Explore more solution and do not forget to seek advice from experts. One way to gain connection is through joining seminars, training and boot camp in supply chain.