It is not uncommon for a small business to grow almost organically. When a company is small and has a limited supply chain, it is easy to keep a clear perspective on each partner and part of the supply chain. This includes the ordering of raw materials and products through inventory management and to final products shipped to your customers.
However, over a period of time of steady growth, or through a sudden dramatic increase in business, it is easy for the supply chain to become incredibly complex. Different partners may be involved in supplying raw material, different shippers and freight companies, various in-house inventory management systems may be used, and there is limited monitoring and management of outgoing management of the delivery of product to customers.
This creates an incompletely, ineffectively and often costly supply chain. By using software to understand and evaluate the current practices, supply chain planning systems can be implemented.
A Clear Picture
Rather than looking at each part of the supply chain as an individual and unique entity, top options in supply chain planning systems look at the big picture. This includes tracing and tracking all aspects of the business from pricing of raw materials to delivery of the final product with the end-customer.
This also includes a range of different but related areas of running a successful business. With supply chain planning systems with a focus on demand planning, supply planning, forecasting, scheduling and even production, it is easy to use real data from your business to create a virtual supply chain model.
From this model, a business can determine how to effectively run their supply chain at this time, as well as also how to plan for the future. Incorporating forecasting and advanced scheduling creates an effective decision-making process with a focus on real-time data from the business.
