E-Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management has become a really important concept nowadays. This concept is no longer delimitated by the operations or the activities of purchasing products, it has improved to having a strategic view in which involves the customer service management and the industrial relationship. The information technology has a vital part in redesigning the whole business process and can help to increase the productivity and operations. So, the use of Information technology in the supply chain process is getting really important in the corporate world. The implementation of information of technology in the Supply Chain facilitates the development and getting the knowledge about their customers, suppliers and the market demand.

There are some initiatives in the structure of Information of technology that can help reduce the time cycle and more procedures related to this. The distribution of information in the supply chain associates are possible by the Information of technology initiatives like:

-Using bar-coding in logistics

– Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) among branches

-Having Material Requirements Planning

-Having Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP)

Having an integrated system as Enterprise Resources Planning, most commonly known as ERP can allow you to have the lead of an overview of the whole logistic channel. This is basically the existence of a database all over the supply chain. Enterprise Resource Planning systems have the ability to combine all the different functions like production, logistic, sales, HR, accounting, etc.

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Today technology is so advanced that Information of technology helps creating a strong supply chain in so many different ways. For example, one-way can be with the advanced equipment in the supply chain they can have the chance to build up the speed, quality and quantity of the information that can be transferred. If you stimulate the speed of information gathering and exchange, the information of technology can assure the opportunity to find important information for everyone who is involved. Another way in which the use of advanced information of technology in their supply chain can get an improved coordination and lower the transaction cost among the people who are involve. One example of this can be the way in which Dell´s supply chain is recognized for their capacity to make a great coordinating between different parties in an efficient way for the just-in-time assembly of their very own customized computers.

One more way of having an advanced supply chain is the improvement of interfirm integration among channel partners. Having technology can allow an integration on the supply chain in a upstream and also downstream integration in different areas like inventory, demand forecasting and the scheduling of the orders. This can be seen as an integrated flow of information among customers and provisioner to help balanced the supply and demand across the whole supply chain network. Another way in which this helps is that having a working supply chain allows you to have a great capacity to respond the changes in the market and also the customer request in short time. (Barros et al., 2015)

Hasan Kürşat GÜLEŞ said in his article back in 2012 that Information of Technoogy is an implementation which importance is increasingly becoming important in the collection, procession, preservation and transmission of data. Thus, IT is also an effective means for businesses as it offers businesses new ways to perform better than their rivals and gain competitive edge. (Hasan Kürşat GÜ et al., 2012). They also said that one of the most important things of information of technology applications in the supply chain is the process of making the plans and finding the right tools of optimization that can help to enable the visibility.

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Technology nowadays can simplify and optimize any business process, this means that you can have a better control on your inventory, cost reduction and mostly a better look into your competition. One of the ways in which technology helps in the supply chain is by having a real time inventory data available anytime and anywhere. This can be possible by having Radio Frequency Identification, most commonly known as RFID. This chips (RFID) and the barcodes are placed in every single product in order to track inventory in the easiest possible way.  According to article of Mihaela from 2014, using bar-coding can allow to identify and track products by simplifying the process in the logistic channel. These technologies do not offer the possibility of identifying time and place of good production or the expiration date. These problems can be solved by using RFID tags, you can obtain information of the goods stored or transportation without having physical contact with the products.  (Mihaela Ș, 2014). This can help the effectiveness of the process and can easily detect if there’s a problem with any of the orders. 

Information of technology in Supply Chain helps the performance in different ways. For example, having an integrated system can help achieve benefits through responding better to customer problems and requests. Another way information of technology helps the supply chain is by helping increase the sales volumes by reaching the customers directly with information of technology. Last one is that information of technology can help companies reduce their transactions costs.(Hasan Kürşat GÜ et al., 2012)

Technology can also improve the communication with the customers, this communication is faster and more efficiently. The technology can give you actual and real-time access to track orders, location of specific parts worldwide or even to locate the nearest part for a customer. You can have instant feedback from your customers.

The application of technologies has changed the way all of the chain’s partners interact and how they integrate with one another. One example can be the Electronic Data Interchange most commonly known as EDI. The Electronic Data Interchange facilitate real time data interchanged among the parties that are related to the supply chain. This means that there is a conduct that carries the information related to price, quality, order, logistics and inventory levels. With systems based on information of technology, the business can constantly oversee the actual levels of stock and see when they need more stock. This way the stock needs can be transferred immediately to the supplier with a EVD.

The implementation of information of technology in the supply chain is one of the most important activities of a business. Thanks to the leading edge on data collection, procession and the distribution, it’s easier to unite all the components in the supply chain and improve the cost, time, quality and service by using the Information of technology. To be successful and have a good relation between chain partners it is necessary to have an appropriate channel of technology, this a help the supply chain and make it easier on minimum aspects that can make a great difference.

It is well known that technologies will continue to grow and have disruptive breaks of new technologies but the crucial thing here is that supply chains managers keep looking ways to use technologies in the most efficient way. Sometimes this means using the same technologies but in other ways or even getting out of the current techniques and creating new ones. This means that they will require especial attention to the people they involve in the process and how they apply these technologies.

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• CARR, A. S. 2016. Relationships among Information Technology, Organizational Cooperation and Supply Chain Performance. Journal of Managerial Issues, 28, 171-190.
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