Supply Chain Assessment

Introduction

Supply Chain Assessment is an analysis of the supply chain processes and their alignment with the business and supply chain strategy. It determines the stage of development of the processes against market requirements and leading practice. Gaps identified will drive the agreement of an integrated set of improvement projects. An assessment can act as an input into Supply Chain strategy development.

The stages of a Supply Chain Assessment are as follows:

· Obtain Buy-In, Form Team & Collect Data
· Agree Business Requirements & Stage of Market Development
· Assess SC Processes vs. World Class Characteristics
· Identify Priority Improvement Areas
· Propose Improvement Projects
· Gain Support in Managers Meeting
· Present and Agree with Sponsors (e.g. Board)

The business requirements are defined in terms of quality, reliability, responsiveness, agility and leanness.

The processes evaluated are:

· Demand Planning
· Supply Planning
· Supplier Management
· Inbound Logistics
· Processing
· Packing
· Customer Service Management
· Distribution
· Enabling Processes such as IT etc.

Objectives

The objective of the assessment is to ensure that the processes meet the needs of the business both now and for the future. As part of this, improvement plans will be suggested.

Tools

The Assessment is mainly qualitative being carried out by means of interviews and discussions but inventory planning and run strategy tools may be used to illustrate improvements that are possible or to identify capability improvements that are necessary.