Current Trends in Supply Chain

Today we are in a dynamic and competitive world as well as the people's demand is consistently changing to help keep up with this dynamic world. As a result, customer demand is now identified as probably the most critical aspect in any sort of business. Especially the companies are involved in manufacturing. In order for business to stay in competition, they need to keep prices low, well still producing high quality products. Simply because the market place is now an excessive amount of competitive. As a result, the enterprise achievement is now depends on the competitive policies in accordance with the dynamic consumer market place.

SCM is now emerged with latest technologies to speed up the production process. Info technologies plays a crucial role in the field of SCM (Xu, 2013). http://staff.scm.uws.edu.au/~yichen/IMB2006ConferenceProceedings.pdf To keep up using the dynamic market place demands companies are taking IT support to boost its SCM program. Appropriate flow of info is extremely critical in SCM method. For smooth operation and taking decision, the details about customer, inventory status, demands, shipment schedule, payment etc. should be obtainable to the supply chain members (Anupam, 2015) http://search.proquest.com/docview/1652186757?accountid=12085

. Numerous IT enabled services make this info accessible to them. By way of example bar coding and electronic information interchange can facilitate info integration (Anupam, 2015). Bar code reader records the detail information by converting it to electronic form and stored in firms database.

Two most crucial factors in SCM are preparing and coordination. Firms are now depend on numerous software like Material Requirements Planning (MRP), Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP-11), Distribution Requirement Planning (DRP), Advance Planning and Scheduling Program (APSS) for powerful planning and coordination among various functional component of the organization (Anupam, 2015).

Data mining and warehousing are also two crucial aspects of supply chain management program. Information mining may be the procedure of analyzing data in different viewpoints to emphasize on one of the most important factors of the company (Anupam, 2015). Data warehousing is the procedure of centralization of information which facilitates the obtainable access and analysis. These are some current trends in supply chain management and far more is going to be incorporate with this system in near future.

Green Supply Chain

As the result of increasing pressure from government agencies and growing public sentiment, businesses worldwide are implementing environmentally friendly green supply chain practices. With a typical supply chain involving a variety of people, processes and technologies, there are many opportunities for businesses to adopt green methods, including reassessing how they manufacture and deliver their products and services (Luthra, 2014. http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/doi/abs/10.1108/JAMR-07-2012-0027 Businesses that want to thrive in the 21st century will have to embrace green practices.

Companies today are “going green” in a number of ways. Not all green initiatives work for all business models, so it is important for companies to evaluate the facts before implementation. Some popular green tactics include (Luthra, 2014):

• Switching to equipment that contributes fewer harmful emissions to the atmosphere

• Calibrating existing equipment to work more efficiently, thereby reducing energy consumption

• Partnering with suppliers known for green practices

• Recycling raw materials

Wal-Mart’s green supply chain initiatives, which include saving 667,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and 66.7 million gallons of diesel fuel, are anticipated to help it reach $14.3 billion in profits this year (Luthra, 2014). Green supply chain practices can lead not only to improved environmental conditions, but to a much stronger bottom line.

Cold Chain

The cold chain involves the transportation of temperature sensitive products along a supply chain through thermal and refrigerated packaging methods and the logistical planning to protect the integrity of these shipments (In Vasant, 2015). In Vasant, P. (2015). Handbook of research on artificial intelligence: Techniques and algorithms. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

There are several means in which cold chain products can be transported, including refrigerated trucks and railcars, refrigerated cargo ships as well as by air cargo.

While globalization has made the relative distance between regions of the world much smaller, the physical separation of these same regions is still a very important reality. The greater the physical separation, the more likely freight can be damaged in one of the complex transport operations involved (In Vasant, 2015). Some goods can be damaged by shocks while others can be damaged by undue temperature variations. For a range of goods labeled as perishables, particularly food (produces), their quality degrades with time since they maintain chemical reactions which rate can be mostly mitigated with lower temperatures. It takes time and coordination to efficiently move a shipment and every delay can have negative consequences, notably if this cargo is perishable. To ensure that cargo does not become damaged or compromised throughout this process, businesses in the pharmaceutical, medical and food industries are increasingly relying on the cold chain (In Vasant, 2015).