Benefits of Supply Chain

In a networked supply chain, each supplier and partner can securely access key business
information and is empowered to make informed decisions to best serve customers. The benefits
of a supply chain include:
a) Faster inventory turns throughout the supply chain, reducing inventory carrying costs. By
extending the organizational boundaries, suppliers would be able to access information on
inventory and replenish them as and when necessary, thereby reducing the need to carry high
inventory.
b) By automating supply chain, forecasting accuracy can be drastically improved. This would
result in organizations not only producing products only when they are needed but also reduce
stock-outs, thereby improving customer satisfaction.
c) Dependable delivery promises and consistent execution against those promises creates
customer loyalty and improved customer satisfaction.
d) Extended Enterprises are highly responsive to customers by quickly communicating customer
demand and changes throughout the supply chain. Suppliers meet order demand more quickly
and may ship directly to customers. Customers receive their orders on time with higher
consistency and enjoy greater control by "self-serving"––ordering, configuring, checking status-
online.
e) Flexibility to design, launch , and retire products rapidly in response to customer and market
demand inter-process integrated workflows for product-transition planning that synchronize the
product development and launch capabilities with the supply chain's ability to support the new
product.
f) Shorter engineering-to-production cycle time to increase market share
g) By providing coverage against demand and supply fluctuations, an enterprise can maneuver
more effectively against the competition, and thus improve agility of the entity.
h) As suppliers are able to access the inventory and procurement information automatically, the
purchasing management and staff can reduce their involvement in lower value transaction
functions and focus on higher value activities like vendor sourcing and managing relationships
with them.
i) By extending the organizational boundaries, organizations can deliver what they have
promised, which would result in increased revenues and help in maintaining/increasing market
share.
j) By effectively managing constraints and response buffers to ensure maximum throughput and
demand coverage, the resources of an enterprise are aligned to generate maximum revenue and
eliminate unnecessary costs.
k) A single business action triggers cross-enterprise transactions. Changes in market demand are
communicated directly throughout the supply chain. Suppliers can respond appropriately to
minimize inventory buildup and operate profitably.
l) Extended Enterprises build scalability into their operations by offloading execution of critical
but non-core functions, such as manufacturing or fulfillment, to suppliers and partners. These
partners have the ability to scale their operations quickly and cost-effectively.
m) Intelligent Available to Promise (ATP) and backlog management improves reliability of the
delivery commitments and maintains the targets laid down.
n) Intelligent, collaborative workflows that extend the supply chain into the customer and
supplier bases improve responsiveness to supply & demand fluctuations, and minimize
inventory.