Supply Chain Management

Getting the Right Goods to the Right Place at the Right Time
Managing a supply chain that conveys hundreds or thousands of Stock Keeping Units ( SKUs ) from plants in multiple locations to customers across a nation or around the globe is no easy feat. Supply Chain ManagementMeanwhile, each organization needs to coordinate supplies from a distributed supplier network, and superimpose the objectives of reducing inventory while maintaining customer delivery service performance and the feat becomes a challenge.

Our Approach

Supply Chain Management is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the operations of the supply chain while satisfying customer requirements as efficiently as possible. The process includes all internal functions–logistics, distribution, sourcing, customer service, sales, manufacturing, and finance departments. This method also includes external suppliers that provide finished products, components, parts and assemblies, and the delivery of the same end products.

When a company’s supply chain management optimization is in question, generally one or more of the following problems exist:

  • The distribution network: Too many suppliers, production facilities, distribution centers, and/or warehouses in the wrong locations
  • The distribution strategy: Questionable strategies; i.e. centralized versus decentralized, direct ship, pull or push strategy, third party logistics, etc.
  • Inventory management: Excess quantity and/or locations of all raw materials, works-in-process, and finished goods
  • Information management: Processes and information systems not aligned for demand planning, forecasting, inventory, and transportation
  • Company culture and structure: An organization with horizontal silos and internal goals working out-of-step with optimal processes

Getting the Right Goods to the Right Place at the Right Time requires integration of the supply chain business processes and collaboration between buyers and suppliers, joint product development, common systems, and shared information. Thomas Group solutions provide clients with cost savings, service enhancements, productivity gains, and increased profits.

The Thomas Group approach focuses on key supply chain management processes:

  • Customer Service: Real-time product availability and delivery of information to the customer that is integrated with your company’s production and distribution operations.
  • Strategic Procurement: Building a company-supplier win-win environment that supports the rapid communication of all activities, including negotiation, order placement, supplier scheduling coordination, supply continuity, inbound transportation, and storing and handling quality to both parties.
  • Supplier Connectivity (order fulfillment): Providing the finished product or service to customers; seamlessly linking your company’s marketing effort all the way through customer service.
  • Manufacturing Flow: Studying all activities relating to planning, scheduling, and supporting manufacturing operations, including storage, handling, inventory optimization, and logistics. All activities must be flexible, linked, and operate at constant levels to provide a manufacturing flow process that provides speed (shorter cycle times), improved responsiveness (just-in-time delivery), and customer demand response efficiency (on-time delivery).
  • Portfolio Management (product development and commercialization): With shortened product life cycles, appropriate new and quality products must be developed and launched in shorter time schedules concurrent with the discontinuation of existing lower-profit products.
  • Sales Cycle Efficiency: Metrics should be in place to measure overall sales and marketing effectiveness. Prospect conversion rate and speed determines your company’s sales cycle efficiency.

Thomas Group has accumulated experience in supply chain transformation across multiple industries, including automotive, white goods, consumer goods, retail, machine tools, aerospace and defense, and others. Thomas Group’s pragmatic, performance-oriented approach enables us to identify key improvement opportunities and deliver tangible results quickly. Results may range from simple, rapid adjustments in inventory levels or delivery performance to more profound change such as enhancement of the entire supply chain as a global competitive weapon.

Components of Supply Chain Management

Well defined and aligned processes and procedures will increase Supply Chain program efficiency, enabling Breakthrough Process Performance. Thomas Group’s solutions to improve results, whether focused on a single activity or an entire enterprise, focus on process. Supply Chain solutions address:

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