Strategic Supply Chain Management Business Essay Example

Lanka PLC's supply chain, understanding its systems and operations, evaluating their impact on the chain, identifying current supply chain strategies, and assessing their influence under different market conditions. Recommendations were made to improve the company's supply chain by addressing critical issues and challenges through strategic supply chain management principles. Singer Sri Lanka PLC, established in 1872 in Sri Lanka, has evolved over the years to become a benchmark entity in terms of popularity, modernity, and breadth of products. The company is known for its quality, extensive product range across diverse lines, and appeal to consumers of varying purchasing power.Singer Sri Lanka PLC is a large-scale company with a diverse range of operations. It started with few stores and now has 550 retail mercantile establishments across the state. Singer has over a thousand permanent employees and various distribution channels like Singer Plus, Singer Mega, Singer Homes, Sisil World, Singer Wholesale, Satellite stores, and Duty Free. The company offers a wide range of products in the household, industrial, and financial categories.

Singer merchandise portfolio: ( Beginning: Singer ( Sri Lanka ) PLC Annual study - 2009 )

Organization Structure Pyramid

Singer Organization construction consists of three chief direction degrees which include Junior, Middle and Senior. Senior and in-between degrees has two bomber beds as illustrated below.

A - Foreign Component Suppliers B - Local Component Suppliers

• Prodimix International - Germany Arpico
• Haffle Fittings - Italy Regional Sharpeners
• Dolken Company - Germany St.Anthony 's Company
• Hevea Company - Malaya
• Laminex Company - Australia

C - Other Local Suppliers D - Foreign Suppliers

E - Retail Mercantile establishments F - Corporate Customers

• Singer Mega Dilmah
• Singer Homes Nestle
• Singer plus John Keels Retentions
• Sisil World Media Services ( Pvt ) Ltd.

The Supply Chain ; Distribution Excellence Award ( General Traders category ) -2009

The above-mentioned suppliers help Singer in achieving its supply chain and distribution excellence, leading to it receiving the Supply Chain & Distribution Excellence Award in the General Traders category in 2009.

Competition and the Supply Chain

The supply chain is a web of interconnected organizations that work together to control, manage, and enhance the flow of materials and information from suppliers to end users (Source: Christopher 2005, p.6). It is evident that modern global companies cannot operate independently and succeed or gain a competitive edge in the market in the long term.

In today's business environment, supply concatenation integration is a powerful concept for survival and growth. In order to be competitive in the market, a product or service needs to have key properties, also known as competitive priorities. These priorities may vary depending on the market segment. For example, Singer customers in rural areas may prioritize lower cost, while customers in urban areas may prioritize product quality.

Identifying the Competitive Priorities

Cost Advantage:

This strategy involves seeking efficient facilities and implementing tight cost controls to produce products more efficiently and effectively than competitors.

In the early 2000s, Singer Sri

Lanka had only around 10 brands and focused mainly on entering the market by offering affordable products to the mass market. To reduce costs, the company adopted a strategy of sourcing its major brands through a third party that purchases for the entire South Asian region, benefiting from economies of scale. For instance, Singer Industries Ltd. discontinued its television production in Ratmalana in 2001 and began sourcing from China instead.

Two: The mill in Piliyandala was established for furniture, A, H2O pumps with the aim of reducing imports and duties. It also aimed to offer innovative products at competitive prices. Simultaneously, manufacturing plants should plan their systems to optimally utilize resources such as materials, labor, and machines to significantly reduce costs. Additionally, the company should ensure sufficient margin to cover all other expenses before considering reducing the selling price to attract more customers. This can be demonstrated as follows:

Value Advantage:

"Customers do not just buy products, they buy benefits." Adding value through differentiation is a powerful concept for achieving a competitive advantage in the market. Singer has adopted a differentiation and multi-brand strategy to enter a new era of retailing.

In all classes, different trade names are positioned to appeal to different client sections. The Singer trade name changed to "SINGER plus" from SINGER on January 1, 2007, and the motto became "MORE BRAND - MORE Choice." This change aims to increase the appeal to clients and emphasize the variety of choices available in the shops, giving Singer a competitive advantage. Singer adds value through service by providing exceptional service to their clients. This includes not only offering a product but also providing a complete package that

includes a superb shopping environment, friendly customer care staff, attractive product displays, discount strategies, convenient payment options, free home delivery, free installation, customer training, free services for selected items like A/C's, an extended warranty program, and excellent after-sales service. However, certain product designs may lead to increased inventory holding or transportation costs due to longer manufacturing lead times. This issue is particularly visible in Singer's furniture manufacturing mills.

The overall production of Singer mills will be significantly affected if the problem is not addressed properly. (Source: Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC Annual Report - 2007)

Delivery; A; Lead Time:

Consumers in all markets, whether industrial or consumer, are increasingly time-sensitive, as seen in their purchasing behavior. This trend is evident from manufacturing to product delivery. In all Singer mills, Computer Numerical Control (CNC - Programmable machines) are used to ensure a fast, efficient, and reliable manufacturing process. Additionally, an average three-month finished goods inventory is maintained for all stock keeping units (SKUs), along with 1.5 to 2 months' finished goods inventory specifically for identified fast-moving items in the sub-warehouse.

Singer has a network of more than 500 stores that distribute goods daily from a central warehouse. These stores are authorized to maintain adequate inventory levels. However, the main issue lies in the uncertainty related to maintaining high inventory levels. Although lead times have been reduced, market volatility can occasionally lead to excess inventory situations, leading to significant losses. This mainly impacts products such as televisions, refrigerators, and white goods (such as washing machines and home theater systems) which may become obsolete due to technological advancements.

The prompt resolution of this issue is necessary to avoid potential long-term impacts on the entire

supply chain.

Quality:

Every aspect, including design quality, process quality, product quality, and service quality, must incorporate high standards. Singer Sri Lanka mills guarantee that every item produced meets the required or expected level in terms of conformity and design by adhering to ISO 9001:2000 standards. Maintaining a balanced approach between price and quality for all products is crucial from the company's perspective. Consequently, they have implemented a multi-brand strategy to offer a wide range of products in each category while ensuring no compromise on quality or damage to their brand image in pursuit of price advantages.

Analysis of Cardinal Countries in Singer Supply Chain

Analysis of the above competitive precedences has given a clear insight into the issues that can impact the current supply chain. Additionally, I would like to draw attention to key countries that should be considered for an effective and efficient integrated network for the business organization.

• Areas to be reviewed;
• Supply chain competitive strategy
• Supply chain agility, flexibility, and reactivity
• The effectiveness of supply chain synchronization

Supply Chain Competitive Strategy

The competitive context of business continues to fundamentally change due to four major reasons:

• The new regulations of competition
• The globalization of industry
• The downward pressure on prices/li>
• The power customers have in demanding goods/services/li

An analysis of Current Situation

Singer Sri Lanka currently operates with an internally integrated system which primarily provides an end-to-end planning model. However, they heavily rely on hierarchy which may result in delayed decision-making due to lack of confidence and authorization levels. Potential Strategic Recommendations

To maintain their competitive edge, Singer Sri Lanka should prioritize integration with international suppliers. This will facilitate enhanced communication and coordination across the value

chain, resulting in improved efficiency and cost benefits. Implementing an efficient ERP system will enable the company to effectively manage various aspects including manufacturing, logistics, distribution, transportation, invoicing, accounting, human resources, store sales, marketing campaigns, auctions, and promotions. By leveraging internet technologies like intranet and extranet, the company can minimize excess inventory and ensure proper alignment of inventory with customer demands particularly within a multi-brand and multi-channel framework.

The other important fact is to determine the position of Singer in terms of power with their suppliers and clients when it comes to scale. Additionally, they need to focus on effectively managing reactivity, reliability, resiliency, and relationships (4R's) in order to strengthen connections between customers and suppliers that would be difficult for competitors to disrupt. The ideal fit within an organization can be depicted as follows;

Supply Chain Agility, Flexibility, and Responsiveness

In today's volatile markets, the demand places significant pressure on supply chains to compete as networks and utilize planned network configurations to drive flexibility, agility, and responsiveness.

Agile or Lean?

Analysis of Current Situation

In Singer Sri Lanka's current situation, they maintain adequate stocks of finished goods in warehouses for each channel as well as raw materials at the main Singer mills. However, this approach sometimes leads to substantial losses due to excess inventory. While special orders such as providing customized items for corporate clients locally or internationally help reduce overall lead time, there are instances where timely response is lacking.

Possible Strategic Recommendations

By enhancing supply chain agility, the company can streamline its operations.

Using the seven rules outlined in Table 1 is crucial. To enhance efficiency and responsiveness, it is important to separate up and down stream processes and introduce delays

when feasible. The company strongly emphasizes the importance of flexibility and variability across all categories. This can be achieved by creating new products, modifying existing ones to meet customer requirements, and promptly adapting to changes in demand resulting from seasonal sales patterns. Moreover, various brands can be positioned to target different customer segments depending on their preferences for quality and price.

Table 1: Basic Principles for the creative activity of nimble supply concatenation

Principle

Application

Synchronize activities through shared information
Needs to enhance the company's new IT systems (ERP system, Electronic fund transportation, Internet, e-mail etc.) which enable effective on line buying;and other services

• Work Smarter not harder
• Reduce non-value adding activities such as manual activities;and place the parallel procedures in the company (already this is done up to certain degree of minutes)
• Partner providers to reduce inward lead times
• Work more closer with providers and share information about different demand agendas to reduce time holds
• Seek to reduce complexity
• Enhance the advance capabilities of information systems;and increase the transparency of procedures to reduce confusion and holds
• Postpone the final configuration

< li>This is already being used for certain range of items
< li >Manage processes not just functions< / li >
< li > Needs to manage across its supply chain or the interrelated transverse functional procedures to be more flexible;< / li >

Singer Sri Lanka can improve their supply chain processes by being agile in responding to demand and utilizing appropriate performance metrics. They already use performance monitoring metrics, but they can explore other

possibilities that fit the organization's structure. To achieve synchronization in their supply chain, Singer Sri Lanka needs to link key processes both upstream and downstream. These key processes include key procedures, analysis of the current situation, possible strategic recommendations, and planning and scheduling. Sharing information between each level is crucial, with a primary focus on the relationships between first-level customers and suppliers (Source: Christopher 2005, p.177).

An integrated ERP system should be implemented in order to effectively control the lead clip and stock list. Using IT-based systems such as e-mails and the internet can improve connectivity among all grades and optimize communication with grade 2 providers, leading to increased market innovation and confidence in new design developments. However, there may still be weaknesses in the distinction schemes for new product introduction, where trends are not clearly identified and communicated. It is crucial to identify and replace outdated points with new product designs during mass production.The text below has beenand unified, keeping the and their contents:

To gain a competitive advantage, it is essential to have a well-connected web channel.

Merchandise Content Management

Implementing changes in this area is a lengthy and complex process that follows a hierarchical management structure. To minimize the impact on customers, it should align with strategies and critical processes in the supply chain.

Order Management

Most main providers have their own order tracking systems, but the order processing methods are basic and rely on phone communication, which may cause delays. To improve agility in response to volatile market demands, Singer should embrace new technological advancements to reduce order management time and optimize supply chain efficiency.

Sourcing & Procurement

The current system performs

well, but there are limitations due to high confidentiality. Visibility can be improved through strategic partnerships while maintaining confidentiality with providers who work with competitors. A properly synchronized system would include:

Other recommendations for further improvements in supply chain management:

Mini Warehouse Concept: Since Singer has over 500 retail stores islandwide, it is costly to maintain sufficient stock at each location.It is recommended to establish small warehouses in each territory to store necessary inventory. Beryllium Green offers a method called reverse logistics in which the company can retrieve outdated and unused goods directly from customers. These goods can then be sent back to the suppliers for possible refurbishment.

This backward logistic concept can expand to create a greener environment as a responsible corporate citizen. Singer can aim to address its major international suppliers and convert them into strategic partners through joint ventures or partnership agreements, resulting in a long-term business relationship for both parties. To optimize the supply chain, Singer's sales are influenced by two main seasonal effects throughout the year (April/May and Nov/Dec). It is typical to experience stock shortages during seasonal periods and maintain excess stock during off-seasons.

Both ways, this is not good for the company because they are losing clients during the season while a significant amount of money is tied up in inventory during the off-season. The company's typical tall hierarchical structure is not favorable for the decision-making system as minor decisions must go through multiple levels of hierarchy, resulting in a prolonged decision-making process. By empowering its middle and first-line managers, the company can become more proactive than it currently is. Singer has several head-to-head rivals in the market who are

engaging in similar business, making it crucial to adopt a Red to Blue Ocean strategy.

So companies can gain a competitive edge by leveraging their strengths and competitive advantages, such as experienced management teams and a wide-reaching network. By implementing the Blue Ocean strategy, they can enjoy numerous benefits.

Conclusion

Supply Chain Management principles and techniques are not universal across all industries. It can be a complex situation that is subject to change due to internal factors like union actions, product line changes, and design modifications, as well as external factors like economic conditions, government regulations, new market competition, and international market forces. Singer Sri Lanka has developed effective strategies and, based on strategic analysis, efficiently managing its supply chain will lead to sustainable competitive advantage in the industry.

It is important to choose the right supply chain management rules and tools in a dynamic and volatile environment. This can also affect the profitability of the organization.