Role Of Software Applications In Supply Chain Management For An Organization

 

If you own a business, especially a manufacturing one, then managing your suppliers and orders comes much as a challenge. 

Services generally have fewer inputs, but then you need to manage them properly. Logistics & supply chain management is the solution to this problem. Supply chain management can be incorporated for both products as well as services.

A supply chain management comprises of all the activities that take place from availing the services of the suppliers, to making your product or service available to the customers. In most scenarios, the suppliers, producers, distributors, wholesaler, retailers, and consumers are all part of the supply chain system.

The supply chain management (SCM) consists of managing the inventory of raw materials, work in progress and finished goods, from the time they are obtained or produced to the time they are used up or consumed. This can also be termed as logistics. Other than materials, supply chain management is also concerned with the management of information and finances along the supply chain. Logistics is thus a subset of supply chain management.

Information flow may consist of the information regarding order status like pending or delivered. Financial information like credit terms, payment related information, consignment or ownership information can be controlled or tracked through the supply management system.

Service chain management, in general is more focused on providing support activities to the complete service system.

Supply Chain Management Software Solution

Many supply chain management software are available in the market today. These are web-based and can automate almost all the functionality of the supply chain. A supply chain software may contain modules for:

1.Supplier management
2.Purchase of raw materials
3.Inventory of in-process and finished goods
4.Management of distributors, wholesalers and retailers
5.Warehouse control
6.Customer management

Some software may also come with certain forecasting and analysis capabilities. Apart from this, supply chain management software may also contain modules for managing the finances and bookkeeping. Several organizations also provide cloud-based services.

If you are interested in getting a supply chain application for your organization, there are plenty of online websites where you can find such services.