The supply chain is at the core of every defense logistics organizations. Effective and efficient handling of the supply chains allows these organizations to meet both their strategic and financial objectives. The increasing complexity ecosystem in harmonizing different tiers of suppliers and customers means that the logistics companies must adapt and innovate to solve these problems. Effective supply chain strategies not only call for the adoption of technology but maximizing the different sectors we have under the supply chain management. For example, streamlining inventory management and adopting sustainable supply chain strategies. This helps the company improve efficiency, control cost, and mitigate and deliver value to the customers. This requirement is necessary for our organization, given that it deals with logistics in the defense industry. From supplying sensitive equipment to abnormal load, our logistics agency has learned a lot from the success we have gained supply chain management. This essay argues how the different sectors under the supply chain are important to the success of our firm. The agency has been giving accurate and timely information to customers on the status of their orders.
Purchasing and Supplier Relationship
Relationship with suppliers is of the essence to the agency. Having selected the suppliers, the agency develops a close relationship with them as their performance will determine future contracts. A working relationship ensures that suppliers can manufacture equipment or parts in time at the request of the customer. A close relationship also means that the supplier is willing to negotiate with the agency on inactive inventory. To build on this agency, the agency ensures regular communication and adopts ethical behavior in its dealings. Moreover, the agency has always maintained a need for understanding by both parties of the contractual obligations.
Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management is essential in ensuring customer satisfaction and continued cooperation with them. The agency improved its approach to obtaining customer service feedback by adopting a systematic, integrated approach in order to obtain adequate information on customer service problems. This way, the agency has been able to offer customer support services and therefore ensuring high customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction has also been enhanced by the agency by streamlining the ordering process and ensuring on-time delivery. Customers express satisfaction with the ability of the agency to supply items within a time frame that meets their needs. Given that there exist difficulties in obtaining critical parts such as weapon system parts or helicopter parts, among others, the agency communicates to customers about items requiring long procurement lead time. This way, customers can be more understanding of delayed delivery.
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Inventory Management
Inventory management helps establish a seamless supply chain and keep costs down while ensuring optimum safety and quality of all parts and equipment. The biggest inventory with agency relates to spare parts. To minimize the inventory, the agency has invested in sophisticated information systems. These systems utilize reliable and timely data to forecast demand for parts accurately. The software also helps accurately estimate lead times needed to acquire spare parts. This ensures that demands likely materialize and that purchased spare parts do not become part of the agency inactive inventory. Moreover, through constantly reviewing what is needed, the agency modifies and cancels planned purchases on items that are no longer needed to meet currently estimated requirements. Given that inventory is inevitable, the agency also conducts assessments in collaboration with other agencies to determine whether the inventory being stored as contingency retention is worth keeping. These strategies combined have lowered the agency’s costs.
Quality Management
Quality management has been vital in reducing risks and, at the same time, improving compliance, quality, and cost. Quality management is ensured through regulatory compliance, heightening security measures to avoid compromise, and continual upkeep of equipment. Fish (2011) noted that purchased components accounted for 55 percent of the cost of goods and that suppliers were responsible for over 50 percent of a firm’s quality problem. This means that improving the purchasing and supplier relationship should be a priority in quality management.
Supply Chain Sustainability
As supply chains become complex, there is a need for logistics firms to become ethical and adopt sustainable supply chains. Sustainable supply chains are important in that they reduce waste and overhead and lead to responsible environmental sourcing. Other benefits accrued from sustainable supply chains include enhanced compliance to regulations as well as improved business branding and reputation. To achieve supply chain sustainability, the agency has had to simplify the supply chain processes. This is through small, iterative improvements as opposed to major changes. Moreover, optimizing the logistics process also adds up to sustainability by ensuring efficient product and information movement as well as timely services (Powell-Turner, & Smith, 2018). The agency ensures the sustainability of its supply chain through initiate projects that minimize greenhouse gas emissions in its transportation. By reducing its carbon emissions, the agency also remains ethical.
Overall the essay finds that the agency has performed well under the supply chain sectors. By adopting technology, sustainable strategies, and compliance, among other strategies, the agency’s supply chain has been successful. The lessons are important to other logistics companies involved in handling defense items.
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References
Fish, L. (2011). Supply chain quality management. Supply Chain Management – Pathways for Research and Practice. https://doi.org/10.5772/19973
Powell-Turner, J., & Smith, J. (2018). Defence Logistics – Enabling and Sustaining Successful Military Operations. Defence logistics in Context. Research Gate.
