The importance of supply chain planning and control has grown in recent years. Wondering why? Read this article! Here, we explain what supply chain planning and control are and provide examples and definitions to help you grasp the essence of this topic. Besides, we’ve included a list of exemplary essays to enhance your studies.
🔝 Top-12 Supply Chain Planning and Control Essay Examples
- Toyota Supply Chain: Supplier Relationships, Information Technologies, Logistics, Problems and Solutions.
- Essence of Supply Chain in UAE
- Logistics Management as an Indispensible Element of Any Economy
- Supply Chain Management and Technology Impact
- Supply Chain Management: Key Factors
- Heavy Machinery: Supply Chain Management
- Nike: Strategic Operations Management
- Amazon’s Effectiveness & Supply Chain Management
- Strategic Purchasing and Supply Chain Management
- The Negative Impact of Corruption in Supply Chain Management
- Analysis of Supply Chain Risk Management
- New Technologies in Operations Management and Supply Chains
đź’ What Is Planning and Control in Supply Chain Management?
Supply chain planning and control is the practical usage of resources and assets while delivering and manufacturing products according to market demands. It includes resource planning, sales, operations, demand and supply management, event management, performance management, etc. It also encompasses anticipating the demand for products to ensure that sales revenue opportunities are fully exploited in a timely manner.
đźš› Importance of Supply Chain Planning and Control
Effective supply chain planning and control is essential since it:
- provides companies with accurate information, saving money in the long term;
- allows manufacturers to eliminate unnecessary expenses attached to production and shipping;
- helps to prevent supply shortages;
- enables delivering products to customers faster and more efficiently.
For instance, control of the manufacturing process can improve product quality and reduce returns. Plus, it can help avoid possible lawsuits.
đź’» How to Achieve Effective Supply Chain Planning and Control
Business owners need to adapt effectively to the digital revolution to keep up with the demands of the growing global markets. To connect the supply chain planning process from start to finish, six steps are needed:
Moving to Real-Time Planning
Usually, companies rely on historical data to make decisions regarding demand and supply. But what if a natural disaster occurs, which leads to reduced supply on the shelves? With real-time planning, you can create “what-if” scenarios to plan more effectively.
Minding Enterprise Planning
Companies can also benefit from synchronizing short-term operational planning with the business planning process components to make timely updates. It can allow using resources carefully when unforeseen events occur.
Anticipating the Demand
Understanding and expecting what consumers want and when they want it can benefit your company and the customers. For that, you need to learn how to identify customer demand signals, track how their sentiments change, and understand how that affects the product.
Leveraging Real-Time Data
Using real-time data across the supply chain allows you to plan more precisely and almost eliminates the threat of having too much inventory or insufficient stock.
Ensuring Flexibility
With digital tools, flexibility is easily achieved because the technology reacts and responds faster to re-planning. It saves time and money and increases profits.
Using a Supply Chain Control Tower
A supply chain control tower is usually a dashboard with key business metrics and events across the supply chain. It helps companies to understand, prioritize and solve issues in real-time, as well as collaborate across teams to improve decision-making and plan for unforeseen events.
⚠️ Supply Chain Planning and Control Issues
Many organizations fail to make a supply chain plan that works for them. Yet, in our uncertain world, having the right strategy in place can help avoid supply disruptions and unnecessary losses.
Not Enough Reliable Data
The lack of valuable types of data has been a roadblock to planning for many organizations. Various departments in a company have access to different information, but the solution lies in the need for interconnectivity. At the same time, when business owners rely on historical data, it can create problems for ever-changing markets.
Lack of External and Internal Integration
Various departments sometimes lack collaboration due to a lack of tools. It creates obstacles for supply chain planning. The same happens when working with external suppliers who may rely on different metrics.
Legacy Systems
Relying on old tools does not help with the optimization of the supply chain. Legacy systems are well known but sometimes prevent a business’s adjustment to changing markets.
The Complexity of Supply Chains
Creating a supply chain plan requires a lot of time and effort. Due to the complexity of this process, planning is a laborious activity. Nevertheless, this aspect of business operations is crucial for success in modern world commerce.
Thank you for reading the article till the end. We hope you know now the answer to the question of what planning and control in supply management is. For more inspiration, check the examples of supply chain planning and control essays below.