Supply Chain Strategy

Charlie Supply, Inc. wanted to become the distributor of choice for the markets they served and so established a company goal to create a low cost and highly responsive supply chain (Hugos, 2006). To differentiate themselves from competitors, they decided to build on their strengths to leverage their advantages in the market. The two areas of focus they decided to improve upon were customer service and flexibility. By focusing on strengths, Charlie Supply is able to leverage their existing system and strengths quickly, to ideally become even stronger much quicker than attempts at improving internal efficiency or strengthening weaknesses (Hugos, 2006).

To respond to these strategic goals, managers at Charlie Supply, Inc. defined six key performance targets to help them measure and attain success. The first four initiatives were aimed at improving their customer service; the last two were aimed at strengthening their demand flexibility. These initiatives help them achieve their goals by modifying their supply chain to maximize their existing strengths. They are:

1. "Take orders any way the customer wants"

2. "Deliver uniform quality of service to all customer locations"

3. "Support customer accounting"

4. "Support customer purchasing and budgeting"

5. "Be a valuable partner in the supply chain"

6. "Participate in markets as they evolve" (Hugos, 2006)

Through increasing the way they are able to take orders they increase their client base while improving the user experience for those already involved. Supporting customer accounting, purchasing and budgeting continue to build on the same principle of increasing client base and improving existing client's experience. Delivering a uniform quality of service ensures that customers can expect and depend on the same high quality service from each distributor and each product line. This will help increase the amount of business and market share they hold as their reputation for high quality dependable service increases.

Being a valuable partner in the supply chain requires them to maintain high levels of order fill rates while minimizing backorder frequency and quantity. Fulfilling orders on a regular basis creates dependability, which creates loyalty from customers. Anticipating and stocking additional products beyond the company's present offerings puts them at the head of potential market evolution. As demand changes, so must supply. Being ready and prepared before hand will allow them to act quickly and win market share.

I think important modification Charlie Supply, Inc. can make would be a universal ERP system. They currently experience errors in several errors in order checking