Improving product information flows in a supply chain
Generally, the products travel through a logistic chain to the end customers; however information flow from the customers end follows a reverse lane to the manufacturer and the supplier. Effective and comprehensible access to the information and timely action automatically facilitates better synchronization of business processes.
High degree of competition, rising costs and heightened customer expectation calls for critical information to be quickly accessed from customers and passed on to through the supply chain. In a typical traditional approach, supply consists of a simple process of ‘customer demand and manufacturer supplies’ procedure; however steady rise in technology have enabled businesses to keep track of customer demand and inventory requirements beforehand for better coordination and organized systems and track the entire process through supply chain metrics.
One also needs to look at product and customer information flows that cannot reach the suppliers immediately due to the varied components involved in a supply chain and the apparent cumbersomeness. Furthermore, the manufacturer’s may take have a restricted production capability. In total, the overall process of information flow cannot be acted upon instantaneously due to the different policies followed by groups of retailers, wholesalers and supply chain managers, ensuing different approaches adopted by all to market demand; and therefore calls for suitable synchronization amongst all the components involved in the collective interaction.
