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Supercharge Your Supply Chain Management With These Top Tips

For many business owners, supply chain management is a notorious problem. There are so many solutions and “experts” in the field. The thing is; many firms end up with expensive supply chain management solutions that don’t offer a best-fit.

Are you having supply chain management problems with your company? If so, today is your lucky day! This blog post will offer you some expert tips on how you can supercharge your supply chain management. Some of the following tips are so simple, you might even wonder why you never thought of them in the first place!

14629264481_5d98c20666_cImage obtained from Flickr

Stop using spreadsheets

We live in an age where technology dominates the business world. These days, you don’t even need a computer to manage various aspects of your business. Smartphones and tablet devices offer plenty of processing power, and productivity “apps” are plentiful.

A shocking amount of organizations rely on Microsoft Excel to help them manage their daily tasks!

Around 30 years ago, the business world hailed Microsoft Excel as the epitome of business software. Today, many folks still rely on our old friend to keep records and produce reports. In fact, some people find a reason to use Excel, rather than using Excel for a specific purpose!

If your business uses Microsoft Excel, it’s time to wean yourself off it! There are plenty of enterprise solutions that are a better fit to your firm’s needs. For example, integrated supply software can help you manage your procurement processes.

Work with suppliers that can offer you the service you need

Many companies tend to settle for “second-best.” They deal with suppliers that don’t offer a good end to end solution.

In business, it is important that you work with suppliers that add real value to what you do. The last thing you want to do is waste time dealing with supply chain issues due to inconsistency or poor service.

When it comes down to the bottom line, your suppliers aren’t working for you for free. You are paying them for a certain level of service at all times. If some of your suppliers are below par, it’s time to ditch them and work with new supply partners.

Integrate different departments

I’ve seen a lot of companies whose departments sometimes work in isolation from one another. In one company I used to work at, one department would only talk to other departments by email!

This is your organization. You need to ensure that all your employees work together, not against one another. One way of increasing supply chain productivity is to integrate your departments.

For example, your sales, operations and finance departments should work in tandem. Doing so will ensure that you have a smooth supply chain operation.

Track the performance of your suppliers

Following on from the section earlier about working with good suppliers. It is important you track your suppliers’ performance. And address any supply chain issues before they escalate.

Now that you know how to supercharge your supply chain, it’s time to do it! Good luck!

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