A product like your favourite cell phone before coming in your hand goes through what is called as supply chain. The chain consists of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retail store and finally you, the consumer. Success and profitability of the business depends upon how well this entire supply chain is managed. Issues and disruption in supply chain are detrimental to the business and affect consumers creating bad word of mouth.
Designing and running the supply chain is very important. Supply Chain Manager who does that is pivotal. His key role is to create strategies for smooth and efficient running of the supply chain. They gather and analyze data and study processes to optimize them further. They help identify various issues and resolve them with best possible solution.
With the advancement in technologies, supply chain management software platforms are also evolving. Industry 4.0 is promising a lot of automation with internet of things (IoT), intelligent devices, sensors and machine to machine communication. SCM platforms can be used to track and analyze the supply chain in real time. This would aid the supply chain manager’s to make quicker decisions.
Supply Chain Manager Job Description
If you want to pursue a distance MBA in Supply chain management, it is important for you to build familiarity with the roles and responsibilities of SCM manager. Let us try to understand some of the key job descriptions researched from internet and try to understand what this role entails..
- Assist logistics process for the development of new products, inventory maintenance, manufacturing, shipments etc.
- Develop presentations and detailed reports for senior management for review of the logistics.
- Build and maintain good relationships with external parties like suppliers or distributors.
- Negotiate prices and terms with suppliers, vendors, or freight forwarders.
- Visit vendorÂ’s sites for apprising manufacturing ability
- Monitor supplier performance to assess ability to meet quality and delivery requirements.
- Comprehend legal documentation like contracts, import/export agreements.
- Collaborate with different stakeholders in order to identify any issues and help find solutions.
- Implement new or improved supply chain processes.
- Collaborate with other departments, such as procurement, engineering, and quality assurance, to identify or qualify new suppliers.
- Develop or implement procedures or systems to evaluate or select suppliers.
- Analyze information about supplier performance or procurement program success.
- Design or implement supply chain taking cognizance of environmental policies.
- Create document of physical supply chain processes and workflows with details on parameters like cycle times.
- Design or implement warehousing strategies for raw material as well as finished products.
- Help forecast demand or create supply plans that ensure availability of materials or finished products.
- Define performance metrics for measurement and tracking of supply chain on various parameters
- Analyze and monitor inventories at various levels to reduce waste, control cost, and improve customer service.
- Active participation engineering changes, new launches, product line extensions etc.
- Develop procedures for coordination of supply chain management with other departments such as marketing, sales, production and finance.
- Material planning and production Planning in consultation with Operation and Sales teams
- Ensure Capacity Planning and Optimum utilization with Operations team.
- Dispatch Planning for customers with Sales team
- Perform critical analysis of material consumption and define and maintain optimum level of material and inventory of finished products
- Define scope for continuous cost optimization within the supply chain operations
- Review or update supply chain practices in accordance with new or changing environmental policies, standards, regulations, or laws.
- Publish weekly reports of key matrices for stakeholders for actions to improve customer experience.
- Develop comprehensive project proposals to improve the overall fulfillment experience for customers.
- Provide day-to-day support during the rollout/implementation of newer systems/processes
- Gather, process and analyze data across various business functions related to supply chain and establish standards for supply chain and product fulfillment.
- On need basis, do complex ad-hoc analysis and recommendations for supply chain.
Supply Chain Manager Salary and Skills
Average salary for Supply Chain Manager is Rs. 8 Lac according to payscale.com
Supply chain Manager is a key role in managing the supply chain. He needs to have knowledge of different business functions like transport management, procurement, warehousing, logistics, constraints management, supply chain design, strategic sourcing, legal issues and compliances, finance and accounting.
Supply chain manager is a collaborator. As he needs to collaborate with many different departments he needs to have an excellent communication skills and clarity of thinking. He needs to be a problem solver. He should be a team player with good presentation and negotiation skills.
Distance MBA is supply chain management (SCM) programs are designed considering both the aspects i.e, domain specific skills as well as soft skills. Pursuing it seriously will open up many doors to a great career.