Improving Your Supply Chain With These Six Supply Chain Strategies

The supply chain is an important aspect of supply chain management. It deals with the entire planning, conducting, and controlling of goods, materials, and information in the process of production to the point of sale. According to Supply Chain Group, supply chain has four stages: raw materials, manufacturing, logistics, and distribution. In any given business, there is a process involved for moving inventory from point A to point B. This process will be more successful if you can arrange your process well. Here are some ways to improve supply chain.

Reduce the cost of transporting inventories. If you can reduce the transportation cost of your inventory, you will also reduce the cost of purchasing them from suppliers. This is one of the most obvious ways to increase the efficiency of your supply chain. Many logistics providers offer transportation discounts to clients who regularly send their inventories to them.

Improve logistics communication. Improve logistics communication so that you can easily tell your clients where their shipment is and get them quick answers. Keep in close contact with your end customers, so that you can address their concerns immediately. Your end customers will appreciate your attention to detail because they can rely on you to provide fast and reliable service.

Work with tier II suppliers. Work with tier II suppliers for better distribution services. You want to make sure that your company has good supplies of your products on hand. The higher the on-time percentages of tier I and II suppliers, the better your supply chain performance and profitability will be.

Work with good logistics providers. The logistics system should allow you to easily get your goods to your customers on time. Transportation logistics is very important for any supply chain. It reduces the risk of damaging merchandise while transporting it. There are many logistics providers you can work with, so choose the ones that can best support your company’s needs.

Use technology. Use technology to streamline your logistics operations. Your business needs to be connected 24 hours a day. Use electronic order books to keep track of your goods. Streamlining logistics operations will make global supply chains run more efficiently so that you can help save money and resources.

Build on-time delivery rates. You want your logistics provider to meet on-time delivery rates. Good logistics providers will meet their delivery goals. Your logistics provider will also evaluate your on-time percentage in your overall inventory management process. When your company meet its on-time goal, your transportation logistics provider should increase your on-time percentage for all of its transportation and warehousing partners.

Work with diverse vendors. Be sure to work with a variety of vendors for your supply chain needs. You need to make sure that your vendors have good relations with one another. The more connections your logistics providers have with one another, the smoother your supply chains will run. Work with your logistics providers, not your vendor’s. By doing so, you’ll gain even more connection opportunities with other businesses that will add to your overall profit margin.