A supply chain is referred to as a network of companies, businesses, and individuals involved in creating and delivering to the customer. It also includes all the processes and procedures that transform raw materials into final products. This process is essential since it helps attain various business goals. For example, controlling the manufacturing procedures can help prevent the risks of lawsuits or recalls, improve product quality, and also aids in enforcing a strong customer brand (Lahkani et al, 2020). The four initial stages of supply chains include integration, operations, purchasing, and distribution. Every product, such as Big Mac, Gasoline, Automobile repair, and textbook, must pass through all these stages.
Big Mac is known as a sandwich that is very popular in McDonalds. Its supply chain begins at the first source of raw materials: the agricultural level of animal farms, bread companies, and vegetables. This is where integration starts, a phase that allows strategic planning in selecting the right source of raw materials. This phase also helps prevent shortages, delays, overstocking, or understocking and reduces human error (Tien et al, 2020). Once the raw materials are harvested, they are processed at the food processing facilities or transported directly to McDonalds for the rest of the procedures. The processed bits are frozen and then taken to McDonalds’ where the meat is cooked. The vegetables are then added according to the customers’ orders.
Gasoline used as a fuel for vehicles, has a complicated supply chain procedure. Its supply chain begins with looking for a geographical place that has gasoline. After finding the gasoline, the production process begins (Yang et al, 2022). It then involves the process of refining the crude oil into gasoline. Once the gasoline is formed, it is blended with ethanol at the distribution Centre, and the last stage of selling the gas at the retail stations completes the procedures. Gasoline supply chains originate from crude oil pumped from the offshore lines and drilling that refine it. The end product can only be transported using trains, pipelines, trucks, or ships.
For automobile repair, the supply chain begins with the customer’s need for the services. It is a very simple process that typically involves manufacturing and distribution depending on the models and the make. The needed parts can be found at the repair facility or bought from a factory. After the parts are shipped to the repair facility, the servicing process begins (Rudenko et al, 2020).
For a textbook, the supply chain process begins with the content of the book’s needs. Hence, the organization that provides the ink and paper is the ideal place for the supply chain process to commence. Then, the content written in the textbook is outsourced from different writers and also from school facilities. Next, the textbooks are made at the factories and transported to the warehouses. Afterward, the warehouses ship the textbooks to schools or businesses for retail. Lastly, the textbooks are then sold to consumers. However, recent trends in the market have also included renting books to the supply chain.
Offshoring is considered as manufacturing a product in a different location. This happens mostly in other countries that are related to the process of product manufacturing. Automobile repair and gasoline processes can be the ideal products for offshoring since their product manufacturing is usually done in a different location that the consumer cannot access daily. On the other hand, outsourcing involves services that are moved to a different provider to save up on the cost of manufacturing. Big Mac, automobile repair, and Gasoline are the ideal candidates requiring their services to be outsourced from different parts of the world. However, the supply chain management process cannot be complete without the logistics and purchasing part. This is because they are both parts of the processes’ overall performance. They all create an effective and efficient level of performance for their consumers, resulting in the delivery of high-quality products and the lowest possible cost.
References
Lahkani, M. J., Wang, S., Urbański, M., & Egorova, M. (2020). Sustainable B2B E-commerce and Blockchain-based Supply Chain Finance. Sustainability, 12(10), 3968.
Tien, N. H., Dana, L. P., Jose, R. J. S., Van Dat, N., & Duc, P. M. (2020). Analysis of McDonalds’ Entry Strategy into Vietnam Market. International Journal of Advanced Research and Development, 5(3), 23-29.
Rudenko, A., Palmieri, L., Herman, M., Kitani, K. M., Gavrila, D. M., & Arras, K. O. (2020). Human Motion Trajectory Prediction: A Survey. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 39(8), 895-935.
Yang, C. M., Huang, T. H., Chen, K. S., Chen, C. H., & Li, S. (2022). Fuzzy Quality Evaluation and Analysis Model for Improving the Quality of Unleaded Gasoline to Reduce Air Pollution. Mathematics, 10(15), 2789.