Effective Inventory Management: A Key Factor in Supply Chain Success - Essay Sample

Introduction

According to the case study, the importance and sensitivity of inventory management in a supply chain are revealed. The making or breaking of a supply chain depends on the implementation of inventory management. Thus, the absence of inventory management can lead a company to a similar event like the one in the case study. For both supply chains, an enormous loss was experienced due to a lack of management and proper protocols. Due to the need to find a new buyer, Western Australia lost a lot of revenue because looking for a new buyer can be cumbersome since many countries do not accept grains containing carmoisine. Japan does not possess many loading docks since they are mainly an importing company; therefore, the operational costs of Western Australia rocketed. Moreover, concerning warehouse management, there is a need to produce quality products in a warehouse where there is a flow of many products. Western Australia could have avoided the above case if it had a warehouse where both Saudi Arabia and Japan products could be checked to ensure there is no contamination of the grains (Mangan & Lalwani, 2016). Therefore, Western Australia should have put into consideration the design and have the ability to manage products over diverse conveyor belts to make sure there was no contamination. This case study reveals the significance of communication within a supply chain to make the supply chain successful.

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Scm Processes That Could Avoid Second Contamination From Re-Occurring

Firstly, it is necessary to mainstream collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPRF) to ensure there is no contamination of products experienced. CPRF is a business practice evolving and emerging to minimize the cost of supply chains by enhancing cooperation, integration, and visibility among supply chain trading partners. Secondly, a vendor management inventory (VMI) is necessary system software that helps minimize delays, create inventories with better quality, closer supplier-customer relationships, and inventory management. VMI improves the communication channels since it enhances the quality and cooperation for better delivery of services among different supply chain participants. Business relationships also benefit through VMI as a result of improved efficiency and accuracy of inventory management while minimizing costs. Besides, a collaboration between VMI and CPRF could enhance communication between a customer and supplier, preventing events like contamination from re-occurring. Also, technologies such as EDI would be essential in improving connections to ensure the success of the supply chain (Mangan & Lalwani, 2016). The intangible losses were more significant as compared to tangible losses. Compensation claims and significant damages include the physical losses for overseas customers. In contrast, shareholders' loss of trust in the potential to the market bulk grain of high quality, loss of customer trust, and the ability to obtain high quality and consistent products include the intangible losses.

Western Australia Grain Supply Had Robust Qualities

The grain export industry of Western Australia was significantly regulated, with each section of the supply chain operating as a government statutory. Railways, grain handlers, ports, grain traders, and quarantine services had definite charters to service the needs of its precedents and operated as statutory monopolies. Besides, communication of information was exchanged with ease among firms, and with a unified mission, they optimized market returns at peak efficiencies through transportation and selling of export grain (Mangan & Lalwani, 2016). Also, the quality control and logistics systems for moving grains to port from country storage and onto ships to the intended destination are highly efficient in Western Australia.

Importance of Collaboration of an International Agri-Food Market

Collaboration in the development and maintenance of the international agri-food market is a way for firms to create strategic alliances, share information, and minimize the overall expenses in terms of sustainability. Also, collaboration is essential in developing, establishing, and applying new practices and ideas that are innovative, which is associated with the ecological and socio-economic sustainability of the agri-food market. Besides, this leads to the minimization of transaction costs; a shared vision facilitates avoidance of costs and allows small actors to create an impact in the agri-food market. Sustainability challenges are numerous in the food industry, which requires innovative strategies and approaches (Mangan & Lalwani, 2016). Collaboration in the agri-food market will lead to enrich a country’s resources and enhance its ability to obtain improved sustainable performance. Moreover, states will be able to set the minimum standards, such as targets for contamination reductions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, firms must have well-established product designs because they determine the operation of supply chains. Product design departments decide the design of products as well as choosing which products will be best. Moreover, trade relations are affected by the absence of import refusals and proper testing as the relationship between customers and producers is highly essential. Long time relationships take a lot of time to build to establish confidence with the customer. If some errors occur, the association is likely to a breakdown, which becomes difficult to rebuild. Generally, Western Australia’s supply chain lacked efficient communication and collaboration. The mistakes with Japan could have been solved if both parties agreed to their mistakes and tried to solve the problem even though it was hard to avoid the losses.

References

Mangan, J., & Lalwani, C. C. (2016). Global logistics and supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.