Supply Chain, Logistics and Distribution Strategy Alignment and Development

The focus of this work involves aligning a company's supply chain strategy to its business strategy. In situations of high growth, companies need a flexible supply chain to ensure that their growth plans can be absorbed at an incremental cost. In more certain demand situations companies should aim to ensure that their supply chain operates to optimum levels, with balance between service and cost.

This work often features:

Overall development of Supply Chain Strategy
Alignment of customers and suppliers to internal company operations
Alignment of marketing and sales plans to supply chain strategy
Alignment of capital expenditure to supply chain operations
Alignment of HR strategy to supply chain operations
Alignment of supply chain strategy to meet investment aims
Alignment of supply chain strategy to meet growth targets
Optimisation of supply chain to meet wider business goals

Supply Chain Strategy Development

As part of our work, we often assist companies in developing and documenting a Supply Chain, Logistics or Distribution Strategy.

This normally takes place as a series of facilitated planning workshops, with a cross functional team involved. At the completion of the workshops, the company has a documented strategy, with objectives, actions plans, timelines and responsibilities.

Whilst the workshops are tailored to the specific needs of the company, in simple terms, they tend to go through the following stages, if using an issues based approach:

Review of overall business strategy
Develop Supply Chain Vision and Mission
Review of existing Supply Chain and known issues
Further issue identification
Develop issue themes
Prioritise issues
Creation of issue teams
Development of objectives, strategies and tactics
Implementation planning

This planning approach has proved highly successful and is structured so as to enhance team participation and commitment.

The focus of our planning approach, is to ensure that the Supply Chain strategy is clearly focused on the end game needs of the business, rather than the enabling 'means'. This ensures , particularly in large and multi divisional businesses, that all parts of the business are focused on achieving the objectives, rather than sub optimising individual change projects.

For more information about these services, feel free to make direct contact with the following Logistics Bureau staff:

Supply Chain & Logistics Strategy Alignment & Development - Australia - David Riddle.