The supply chain industry caters to every business that runs the wheel of economy. Every industry varies in nature and operation, but they have one thing in common -- they all need the right supply chain partner who can ease their business and help them run it smoothly with maximum visibility and flexibility.
Here are the top five industries that are heavily dependent on their supply chain partners.
1. FMCG: Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) form one of the largest industries worldwide. From our morning showers to our meals and well-being, the world revolves around the FMCG industry, which is often disrupted by ever-changing consumer demands. It always has to produce a wider range of goods in high volumes and quickly. In developing markets people spend more on consumer goods, raising the need for an expanded supply chain that can provide flexibility and visibility.
For FMCG, the right supply chain partner means:
● Flexible solutions that can cater to the quick-changing consumer demands and preferences
● Smaller shipments that are more direct and focused on quicker deliveries
● Data-driven optimization through real-time visibility and cloud-based solutions
● End-to-end visibility facilitating the decision-making process.
2. Consumer Durables: Highly durable goods such as refrigerators or washing machines usually work for five or more years, so durable goods are typically characterized by long periods between successive purchases. Many durable goods also have a limited shelf-life due to advances in technology and ever-changing customer tastes. There is an opportunity for companies to use supply chain management software and anticipate potential market changes across multiple time horizons in order to mitigate risks and embrace opportunities.
Risks and opportunities must be evaluated from a volumetric standpoint, as well as from their financial impact on the business. Supply chain partners can support durable goods supply chains by becoming more responsive, adding visibility and collaboration, improving forecasting, managing complexity and uncertainty.
It is vital that supply chain partners for durable goods companies use software to make effective planning and optimization decisions. They must also balance ease of use and advanced functionality, in two key ways:
● Capturing, verifying and combining information to enable rich analysis, decision making and rapid response to planned and unplanned events
● Developing robust integrated business planning capabilities supported by a comprehensive supply chain planning and optimization platform to:
- Reduce cycle and response times
- Maximize resource utilization
- Improve the effectiveness of the extended organization.
3. Automobile: The automotive industry’s global nature makes it prone to external factors such as politics, economy, environment, and marketplace. An effective supply chain management aids the automobile industry by introducing key metrics such as supplier on-time delivery, supplier shipment information accuracy, and supplier ASN (After Ship Notice) compliance. The right supply chain partner introduces effective strategies such as:
● Extensive risk assessment and prioritization exercise
● Contingency and risk mitigation plan that involves backup manufacturing, alternative logistics, and even relocating some operations to different countries to take advantage of tariffs or trade deals
● Automobile marketplace analysis to understand changing consumer demands
4. E-commerce: Business efficiency at all operational levels is critical for the success of e-commerce. Supply chain management is an essential component of this industry, focusing on procurement of raw material, manufacturing, and distribution of the right products at the right time. An efficient supply chain accelerates the e-commerce process with:
● Effective and optimized inventory management, reducing operational costs and risks
● Reverse logistics to enable better movement of goods from destination to origin
● Suitable inventory infrastructure for effective storage and visibility of goods
5. Retail: What differentiates retail from the other industries is the sheer volume of product movement. The retail supply chain must be monitored closely as goods are always on the move and the cycle time is less. A supply chain partner for retail must take into account the following for seamless management:
● Effective storage strategy to reduce space and improve profitability
● Faster movement of supplies by optimizing the creation of pick-up and inbound routes
● Evaluation of customer demand patterns by enabling real-time visibility of inventory
A supply chain partner can ensure smooth and efficient operations by reducing costs and delivering value to your customers. Choose the one with the right strategies to enable your organisation to go from strength to strength.
At H&S, we have effective methods to manage the supply chain for every industry. We balance sustainability and profitability by building future-ready 4.5PL solutions. We work with innovative technologies such as electric vehicles, blockchain, and AI to create a digital supply chain to cater to tier 2,3,and 4 cities. We also utilize techniques such as the weighted distance traveled method to optimize the use of transportation.