Is a network of people organization technology and activities involved in movement of product from the supplier to the customer?
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Definition of Supply ChainThe network includes the activities, people, technology, information and resources, while the functional teams involved in the company’s network includes sales, sourcing, procurement, production, logistics and customer service. Supply chain management is the coordination, management and strategy that drives the flow of data, information, resources and materials to deliver the best product and service to all stakeholders in the process of converting raw goods to a salable product and delivering it to the ultimate customer. When the activities of a company’s supply chain are brought together into a single vision, supply chain management drives a competitive advantage by executing faster, reducing friction through all internal and external points, thus bringing more transparency throughout the process to deliver a product or service that is beyond expectations of the end customer. Learn more about what a supply chain is in video form: Third party logistics companies (3PL’s) have transformed their business models over the past decade to encompass the new vision of supply chain management by offering the market powerful cloud technology platforms and connected systems. Leaders in supply chain management understand their company's supply chain is more than the movement of goods from raw materials to finished goods. These innovators bring together the internal and external business processes and networks associated with delivering the best service and product under a single collaborative system that delivers the ultimate customer experience. By streamlining and coordinating the supply and demand side of service and product activities to maximize the customer experience a company builds a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Some of the best in the world today include: Amazon, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, McDonald's, Apple. Link to the Gartner Top 25 Supply Chains companies. Additional Topics of Interest
Professional Organizations Associated with 3PL's and Supply Chain Management Include:
To learn more about Intek Freight & Logistics and the logistics industry, we invite you to visit our website and subscribe to our weekly blogs. Rick is the co-founder and CEO of InTek Freight & Logistics, a company focused on being the place where companies come when faced with a logistics problem. Reimagine supply chain as a digital network that operates in perfect harmony, so it’s better for people, the business and the planet. Explore Our Latest Insights A supply chain transforms raw materials and components into a finished product that’s delivered to a customer. It is made up of a complex network of organizations and activities, such as raw materials suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and the customer. Supply chain management is the orchestration
between these networks comprising procurement, management and storage of raw materials and manufacturing, as well as the moving, delivery, and storing of finished goods and after-market services to create maximum efficiency, lower cost and net value. Supply chains: From linear to network To understand the importance of supply chains management, it’s worth first thinking about the importance of a supply chain at its most basic level. Traditional supply chains
follow a linear progression. The output of one step is typically the input of the next step. For instance, suppliers must send raw materials to the manufacturer before the products can be made. If there’s a problem at any step, the entire linear chain is disrupted. Today’s supply chains,
however, are more complex than linear models—they’re sophisticated supply networks that are more flexible and efficient. This helps meet customer expectations for a wide selection of customized, sustainable products and fast deliveries that meet individuals’ specific needs.
The future digital supply chainThe supply chain is no longer just an efficient maker and mover of goods; it’s now required to be a principal driver of business growth. Resilience is also critical, as future supply chains must manage ongoing disruptions. Sustainability is vital, too, so that supply chains not only address the concerns of investors, board members and governments, but also make a positive contribution to society through
achieving zero waste, building circular processes and building trust. Why? Disruption is the new reality. Technology is advancing. Customer demands are evolving. Complexity and uncertainty are increasing risk. Supply chain management is key to solving this conundrum—and it touches everyone, everywhere. Supply chain is now a principal driver of business growth.
Being more efficient throughout the supply chain and delivering goods for customers
needn't come at the expense of the planet or get in the way of good governance. On the contrary, in fact. Effective supply chain management can and should put sustainability at its core. It's not just the more responsible thing to do; it's what customers want. They also expect companies to protect people through enhanced human rights efforts. Accenture's Human Rights Due Diligence Tool helps companies identify and assess risks in sourcing and production, as well as visualise risks by country and site. Technologies like this, across all aspects of ESG, ensure that companies are held accountable. Companies can no longer fall back on
the "we didn't know" defense, and should instead focus their attention in creating a business model that not only delivers products customers need, but produces them in the manner customers expect. Intelligent supply chains are built on digital
technologies, including Cloud, data and artificial intelligence (AI). They enable companies to implement supply chain strategy and achieve three key outcomes: These outcomes are important to business, society and the planet. To achieve them, companies must build intelligent supply chains that bring humans and
machines together. And this all starts with effective supply chain management. Visibility to build supply networks for changeWe help clients create enduring change by reimagining tomorrow’s supply networks to positively impact business, society and the planet.
Visibility elevates supply networks to new heights of resilience and performance—and much more. Transparent operations
allow executives to see exactly what’s happening across their extended supply chain network. With those insights, they can make faster, better decisions to mitigate risks, manage disruptions, respond to demands, deliver better customer experiences—and boost the bottom line. Companies with greater visibility are more likely to maintain revenue, profit, and share price performance during disruption. They are more resilient and competitive. But visibility offers so much more. It supplies data
and insights to build a supply network that creates change that matters. Change that makes the business perform better with the power of humans+machines. Change that is better for society with responsible, traceable products and services. And change that is better for the planet, reducing carbon and waste. That is change built on visibility, powering a positive today and a better future. 
Resilient supply chain View Transcript
Technology Vision 2022: For supply chain networks View Transcript A comprehensive supply chain resilience stress test has been developed by Accenture and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to assess the operational and financial risks created by disasters or other catastrophic events. Leveraging Accenture’s extensive expertise in supply chain,
operations and analytics, and MIT’s leading research and capabilities in data science, the stress test quantifies supply chain resilience in a single index. Organizations are able to quickly identify potential points of supply chain failure, assess their related financial exposure, define appropriate mitigation strategies and actions, and benchmark resilience against their peers. The basic components of supply chain managementSupply chains vary by company and industry. But at their core, they comprise several interdependent disciplines and, at a high level, commonly contain seven basic components: From Engineering to Service Management, each area’s output is the input to the next—each link relies on the others to form a strong supply chain. For example, Sales and Operations Planning can provide real-time sales results to inform product innovation that drives repeat business. In addition, Procurement must source and buy
the right parts and get them to the right plant in time to meet production schedules. And products must be made and shipped on time to ensure that customers get what they want, when they were promised. Intelligent supply networks are similar, but they have one key difference: They leverage digital tools and technologies to optimize the supply chain and provide visibility across the ecosystem to deliver deeper insights and greater value, more quickly. This shift has a knock-on impact on the
seven core components of supply chain management, and the skills that each requires. This shift has a knock-on impact on the seven core components of supply chain management, and the skills that each requires. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Scaling AI in the supply chain READ MORE A look at current supply chain sub-disciplines
Each discipline within supply chain management must transform to meet the needs of the future. That’s not just our opinion—it’s what supply chain executives told us as part of our Accenture Technology Vision 2021 research, which explored technology trends. Engineering drives the ideation, design and development of a new product or service. In the future, AI and cloud technologies will help engineers innovate using new capabilities, automate deployment and testing
for faster product launches, and will connect with the business to optimize functions. Today’s planners determine how to get the right product or service at the right place and time to meet demand. Tomorrow, algorithms will make most day-to-day planning decisions.
A digital twin can optimize outcomes based on different variables. Data and AI will provide insights into what’s happening in the supply chain to react efficiently. In order to acquire the
goods and services for finished products, procurement teams will need entrepreneurial, collaborative and analytical skills to build relationships with ecosystem partners to select supplies that provide transparency into supply sources and practices. They’ll also need to use digital technologies to solve problems. AI and cloud technologies will transform logistics to provide real-time visibility and
optimize decision-making for more efficient movement of raw or finished goods from supplier to factory, warehouse or store. Factory managers will have a wealth of information from advanced AI and algorithms, coupled with sensors across manufacturing facilities. They’ll need to be extremely adept at using this data to make the right decisions.
Read more: case study. Rather than being reactive in supplying parts and personnel,
companies will have AI and cloud technologies that enable them to make real-time decisions about product support, decrease resolution times and improve service performance and profitability. Effective supply chain management strategiesRight now, many companies’ supply chains are built on dated, legacy technologies. They can’t support end-to-end visibility or real-time decision-making, meaning they struggle to deliver strategic business value. They’re essentially analog machines trying to solve problems in a digital world. The
result? Slow response times, waste, conflicting priorities between functions, delays and rigidity. What’s more, companies struggle to meet increasingly granular customer needs. Furthermore, traditional supply chain organizations usually focus on optimizing a particular aspect of the supply chain—not all of it. Instead, organizations should share data across silos and optimize along the entire value chain. Digital transformation of supply chains To address these
challenges, companies should create intelligent supply chains based on data, analytics and AI. These, along with digital twins, are among the
top technologies that supply chain executives are looking to deploy in their organization. Enabling and optimizing them all, however, starts with the cloud. Operating in the cloud is critical because it allows companies to process huge amounts of data—from virtually unlimited sources across the entire supply chain—at speeds and volumes never before possible. Deeper analysis of more data, faster, means developing critical business insights and smarter decision
making. This includes gaining the ability to reconfigure how people work, and gaining the agility to respond quickly to new insights that the data generates. Along with being more powerful, simple and flexible, the cloud is also more affordable. This opens up endless possibilities for improving and optimizing the supply chain, particularly in terms of building in resilience and ensuring responsible operations. There are additional benefits, too. When companies transform their supply chain
organization, the focus shifts from driving profitability to delivering value across growth, sustainability and trust. Along with driving profits, the supply chain becomes instrumental in positively impacting the planet and society alike. Digital technologies and data lay the foundation to make supply
chains customer-centric, service-oriented, self-learning, intelligent and agile. There are five keys to executing an effective intelligent supply chain strategy: This helps build an intelligent supply chain that improves customer experiences, increases competitive advantage and drives profitable growth. New technology means big changes to existing supply chain roles Sustainable supply chainsSupply chains generate around 60% of all carbon emissions globally. Companies that are serious about
sustainability are working hard to make their supply chain networks more responsible and resilient. There are many opportunities to increase supply chain sustainability, including: Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are categorized into one of three different scopes. Scope 1 involves GHG emissions directly from an organization’s owned sources; scope 2 involves indirect GHG emissions; scope 3 emissions are caused by an organization’s value chain, but not owned by the organization. Reducing carbon emissions can occur all the way through the supply chain. Companies
that find new sources of value at the intersection of digital technologies and sustainability are 2.5x more likely to be among tomorrow’s strongest-performing businesses.
Cloud is one of the core ways to create supply chain sustainability and responsibility—but also creation of a resilient supply chain. The
cloud enables companies to efficiently process huge volumes of data, they can also use new technologies to reduce their environmental impact, boost efficiency, improve compliance, mitigate risk and maintain efficiency even amidst global disruption. Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain are examples of
cloud-based technologies that can help optimize the supply chain by avoiding overproduction, minimizing shipping distances, maximizing sell-through and managing returns more efficiently. Companies can connect their products, too. This paves the way for the use of a wide range of circular business models including
rental, re-commerce of used goods and product-as-a-service. It’s a great way for companies to infuse greater sustainability and trust into their businesses. Leading companies are taking greater responsibility for what's happening at the end of the
supply chain. This means looking at what customers do with products and packaging when they’ve finished with them. Some businesses are creating formal takeback programs, whereby people can send back products at the end of their lifecycle so the materials can be transformed into new, useful products. But taking transformative steps toward circularity isn’t solely about responsibility; it’s about
creating new opportunities for competitiveness and sustainable prosperity. Helping customers reduce their environmental impact has several knock-on benefits, including a boost in customer loyalty, increased sales, a competitive advantage and reduced materials costs. The key is using circular economy principles, in which
manufacturers are responsible for their products throughout the lifecycle, to help supply chains address resource scarcity and rising demand for sustainable goods. Join the teamMeet several of our supply chain
leaders from around the world. There’s never been a better time than now to help solve business and national issues and be part of supply chain transformations. Learn more.
Supply Chain & Operations People of ChangeView Transcript
Frequently asked questions
What is a successful supply chain? Successful supply chain leaders can better anticipate and adjust to shifts and disruptions in the market. They maintain high levels of
customer satisfaction because they have a holistic view of their service levels, are sustainable, are responsible and create trust through data that helps generate actionable, predictive insights. Once companies migrate their systems and applications, and gain the ability to process
massive and diverse data sets from across all functions, they quickly experience the erosion of organizational silos as data is shared and acted upon more intelligently and with greater speed and accuracy. Companies can become even more informed by using technology to build digital twins of
their supply chains. These virtual supply chains allow companies to model and simulate disruptions or changes, as well as identify ways to improve supply chain performance before implementing those changes in the physical world.
What is the future of supply chain? Through 2024, 50% of supply chain organizations will invest in applications that support artificial intelligence and advanced analytics capabilities, and run with cloud computing. The COVID-19 pandemic amplified the need for supply chain organizations to seek tools that help them make better and more informed decisions, faster. New digital supply chains will be based on a flexible, asset-light model that places customers firmly at the
center so they can anticipate and withstand disruption, as well as support environmental, social, governance and other sustainability practices. Companies will be able to serve diverse customer segments through multiple agile and responsive supply chains based on a network of shared assets. Ecosystems partners and digital technologies will be at the heart of this shift in supply chain planning, all the way through to aftermarket services. Subscription Center Stay in the know with our newsletters Stay in the know with our newsletters Who is involved in supply chain?The components of a supply chain include producers, vendors, warehouses, transportation companies, distribution centers, and retailers. The functions of a supply chain include product development, marketing, operations, distribution, finance, and customer service.
What is supply chain product?Products are the first entity in your supply chain. Supply chains exist to move products. Products are assigned to Facilities where they are made, stored, consumed or sold. And they are assigned to Routes that move them from one facility to another.
What do you call a system of organizations people Activities information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer?A logistics system (LS) is a network of organizations, people, activities, information, and resources involved in the physical flow of products from supplier to customer.
What refers to the people and systems involved in moving a product from its point of origin to the customer?Logistics is the process of planning and executing the efficient transportation and storage of goods from the point of origin to the point of consumption. The goal of logistics is to meet customer requirements in a timely, cost-effective manner.
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