Supply chain management: the limits of the global model in the face of the health crisis

The health crisis has had a strong impact on the proper functioning of the supply chain of many companies around the world. To stay operational, industry players are forced to adopt new strategies and revisit their entire supply chain management.

 

What is supply chain management?

Supply chain management (SCM) refers to the supervision of all stages of a company’s supply cycle, from the purchase of raw materials to the delivery of the product or service to the end consumer (including manufacturing, distribution, etc.).

This function involves the management of different flows (product and material flows; information flows; financial flows, etc.) and the management of financial, human, technical resources and resources, etc.

Supply chain management is therefore particularly complex, and involves a large number of different players (supplier; carrier; producer; information systems director; logistics director, etc.).

The supply chain manager must supervise in particular:

• coordination of the movement of goods
• Inventory management and optimization
• Compliance with manufacturing standards
• Negotiations with subcontractors
• Sales forecasts
• Financial reporting
• Order management
• Quality control
• Management of production and delivery times
• Cost management
• Information Management
• performance analysis…

 

Customer satisfaction, business profitability and the company’s competitive advantage are all issues related to supply chain management.

 

Supply chain management: the limits of the traditional model following the health crisis

Since the beginning of the health crisis two years ago, retail and consumer goods players have been facing major upheavals that are forcing them to revisit their entire management model.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which brought the activity of many sectors to a standstill for weeks or even months, has had direct consequences on the supply chain of many companies, such as:

• Routing problems
• a lack of goods and supply difficulties
• Interruption of deliveries
• failures among suppliers and other stakeholders
• shortages of certain components or raw materials
• A decrease in the number of students
• economic repercussions and a decrease in financial resources
• a change in demand, needs and consumption habits…

 

Whether at the human, financial, organizational or logistical level, the health crisis has had a considerable impact on the supply chain many industrialists. The pandemic has also revealed the fragility of the traditional model and highlighted many flaws: lack of adaptability and flexibility in processes, operating in silos, difficulty in accessing data, etc.

Many companies are therefore in the process of questioning their system and taking corrective action in order to develop its resilience and flexibility in the face of external hazards:

• better tools and software;
• better risk management ;
• flow optimization;
• more connectivity between the different players;
• decompartmentalization of information;
• process modernization;
• strengthening of the digital presence;
• digital transformation ;
• development of e-commerce ;
• reorganization of supply, production and distribution cycles;
• Innovation in crisis management…

 

Improving your supply chain management: Wayden can help you

To take a step back and create an SCM model aligned with current challenges, a very strategic solution is to call on an external expert, such as an interim manager specializing in supply chain.

At WAYDEN, we have a network of highly qualified managers with 15 to 25 years of experience in high-ranking positions.

We select the manager whose profile, skills and qualities perfectly meet the expectations and needs of the company.

Provided with exceptional leadership, our interim manager is operational from the moment he arrives in the company. He or she detects flaws, activates performance levers, trains teams and provides the innovation necessary to rebuild effective supply chain management, adapted to the challenges of today’s and tomorrow’s world.