What is the Complete Overview of Supply Chain Management?

What is Supply Chain Management (SCM)?

Supply chain management (SCM) is the broad range of activities required to plan, control, and execute from materials to production for delivery in potentially the most economical way.

SCM incorporates integrated planning and implementation of the processes needed to optimize the flow of materials, information and capital into functions that include demand planning, sourcing, production, inventory management and logistics – or storage and transportation. Companies use both business strategy and specialized software in these efforts to create a competitive advantage.

Supply chain management is a broad and complex undertaking that depends on each partner – from suppliers to manufacturers and beyond – to run well. Because of this, effective supply chain management also requires change management, collaboration and risk management to create alignment and communication among all participants.

In addition, supply chain sustainability – which covers environmental, social and legal issues in addition to sustainable procurement and a closely related concept of corporate social responsibility – that evaluate a company’s impact on the environment and social welfare – of today’s companies Areas of major concern for.

Benefits of supply chain management

There are a number of benefits of Supply Chain Management. Listed below:

Lower Inventories
Lower Costs
Higher Productivity
Greater Agility
Higher profits
Increased Collaboration
Higher Revenues
Shorter Lead Times
Greater Customer Loyalty
Increased Customer Service
Enables Companies to Better Manage Demand
Deal with Disruptions
Keep costs to a minimum and meet customer demand in the most effective way.
These SCM benefits are achieved through effective strategy and choosing the appropriate software to manage the increasing complexity of today’s supply chain.

What is the process of Supply chain management?

“Supply chain management is the process of transporting products from raw materials to the consumer that includes product planning, demand planning, supply planning, sales and operations planning, and supply management.”

The supply chain management process is made up of four important parts: 1. Demand Management, 2. supply management, 3. Sales and operations planning and 4. Product Management.

Demand Management
Demand management consists of three main parts: Demand Planning, Merchandise Planning and Business Promotion Planning.

Demand planning is the process of seeking to ensure that products are delivered in a reliable manner. Effective demand planning can improve the accuracy of revenue forecasts, align inventory levels with peaks and troughs in demand, and increase profitability for a particular channel or product.
Merchandise planning is a systematic approach to streamlining investment on purchases, buying and sales, to maximize investment (ROI), as well as providing markets at locations, times, prices, and quantities.
Business promotion plans are a marketing technique to increase demand for products in retail outlets based on special pricing, performance fixtures, display, value-added bonuses, no-obligation gifts and other promotions. Trade promotions help drive short-term consumer demand for products typically sold in retail environments.
Supply management
Supply management is consists of five main areas: 1. Supply Planning, 2. Production Planning, 3. Inventory Planning, 4. Capacity Planning and 5. Distribution Planning.

The supply plan determines how to meet the requirements created by the demand plan. The objective is to balance supply and demand in a way that achieves the financial and service objectives of the enterprise.
Production planning plays a key role in addresses the production and manufacturing modules within a company. It considers the resource allocation of employees, production capacity and materials.
Inventory planning determines the optimal amount and time of inventory to align with sales and production needs.

Capacity planning determines the production staff and equipment required to meet the demand for products.
The distribution planning oversees the movement of goods from a manufacturer or supplier to the point of sale. Distribution management is an overlapping term that refers to processes such as packaging, warehousing, inventory, supply chain and logistics.
Sales and operations planning
Sales and Operations Planning is a monthly integrated business management process that empowers leadership to focus on key supply chain drivers including sales, marketing, inventory management, demand management, production and new product introductions.

The aims of Sales and operations planning are to enable executives to make better-informed decisions through a dynamic connection to plans and strategies throughout the business. Often repeated on a monthly basis, Sales and operations planning enables effective supply chain management and focuses on delivering the resources of an organization that their customers need while remaining profitable.

Product Management
Product management is a process from product idea creation to market introduction. Create an idea for a product and follow it until the product is introduced to the market. A company should have an exit strategy for its product when it reaches the end of its profitable life or if the product does not sell well.

Product management includes: New Product Introduction, Cannibalism scheme, End of life planning, Commercialization and ramp planning, Contribution margin analysis, portfolio management, Brand and Platform Planning

Advantages of Drones for Bridge Analysis

This is the same when it comes to using drones for bridge examinations. But there are a large number of benefits that you can get when you are making use of a drone for bridge inspections. These are some of the benefits that inspectors and bridge builders have when they are using a drone.

1) Getting to the hard to reach places easier

Analysing a bridge can be hard. Especially, to reach all the places where the bridge needs to be inspected. Getting to these places takes time, and can be dangerous. However, not if you are making use of a drone.

With a drone, especially a high-quality one, you will be able to reach all the places on the bridge. Underneath the bridge, and on top of the bridge. Making sure that you are examining everything that needs to be inspected in no time. You can even take the photos and review the condition of the bridge later again.

2) More accurate analysis

To analyse a bridge for faults that are already done with a building, can be impossible. The analysis can be inaccurate and there might be some places where you and your crew might not even be able to reach.

This is the thing about using a drone. There isn’t anything impossible for a drone. Meaning that you will reach all the areas, and the analysis will be more accurate. Ensuring that you won’t certify a bridge as safe, while you didn’t get to all the places on the bridge.

3) Getting the analysis done cheaper

You will need to hire a complete crew of inspectors to get the analysis done as fast as possible. Meaning that you will need to pay a lot of inspectors for doing the examinations. Or, you need to pay penalties because you didn’t make the deadline for the bridge analysis.

The moment that you are making use of a drone, all these problems fall away. You will be able to get the analysis done a lot faster, and you will only need to hire one inspector. The one that is going to fly the drone. Meaning that you won’t need to pay penalties or salaries for more than one person. Making it cheaper to do the analysis cheaper.

4) Better analysis will ensure improved safety of the public

How many bridges have collapse because of not building it properly? And, because the inspection wasn’t done correctly? This happens all over the world. Not because people don’t care, but because it is hard to get to every point on the bridge after the bridge has been built.

Because you are using a drone, the examination will be done easier, faster, and more effective. Meaning that you will ensure that more people are going to be safe when using the bridge. Improving the safety of the public when using the bridge.

These are just a couple of benefits that you and your inspection crew will have when you are making use of a drone when you are doing bridge examinations. It is essential to make sure that the bridge is done correctly, even at the hard to reach places. With a drone, there isn’t such a thing as hard to reach places, and you will easily see if there are any building problems that can cause loss of life later on.

CR Asia is a leading industrial plant maintenance services provider and shutdowns and turnarounds professional, delivering a complete range of services to the oil, gas, chemical, refining and power industries, including mechanical services, mechanical engineering, heat exchanger maintenance services, catalyst handling and more.

Brochures Promote Your Business Effectively – How?

Brochures printing have become a major component in promoting any business as it serves multiple purposes. Out of varieties of brochures, color brochures involve the simplest process in the making. Brochure printing is not complicated because of the usage of colors for both text and images. These brochures are considered versatile in both the placement of content and images.

Color brochures are usually done by the in-house printing shops. It is cost-effective and used when the brochure does not involve wide range of colors. You can avail offers for cheap brochures printing services available in the market. They give their clients various options on color and type of printing to be used. This will give a clear idea to the customers on what is right for the brochure.

The process of printing differs for both one color and four color printing. Single color printing can be done with any laser or inkjet printer. But four color printing in the laser printer compromises on the image quality and its resolution. The number of folds and number of colors that the brochure uses decides the type of printing that it has to undergo. Also, one needs to be careful while using images in color printing because it may lose the minute details when it comes to single color printing.

Color brochure printing or one color printing is considered inexpensive especially when it involves the use of standard paper and inkjet printer. Bulk orders when placed at your printing services will fetch you great discounts. If the company is using brochures for marketing purposes, then it is essential to give the brochure, a visual appeal it needs. This will determine the standard of the company and hence the use of standard quality of paper, glossy finish and multi-colored images will make a huge difference to the brochure.

Few points to consider:

While promoting a business, it is a must to include the company’s name and logo in the first page.
Single fold brochures must have crisp content since you are devoid of pages to convey your messages. These brochures can also include humor related content as it us welcomed by the audience.
Bi-fold and multi-fold brochures should include images that increase the look and feel of it. More importantly, it does not give the audience a monotonous feel.
Bold fonts and bright colors are always a hit among the target audience.
Make sure your brochure serves the right purpose in conveying the message in a proper manner. It is important to avoid any grammatical or typographical errors.