Supply Chain of Paper - Case Study Example

? Supply chain work August 15, Supply chain work Introduction Activities into generation of raw materials towards development of a finished product and delivery of the product to the final consumer involve many resources of people. Organized in groups such as organizations or as individual persons, people forms important elements of a distribution channel and defines a successful supply chain. Other elements that define a supply chain include processes, applicable equipments, facilities and technology, and information that relate to supply chain activities along movement of products to terminal consumers. Different products demand different supply chain and the difference may be in total depending on nature of products and involved organizations and managements. I, in this paper, outline supply chain for paper, and discuss the product’s transportation and storage through its current supply chain and possible improvements, planning and control for the product, and lean manufacturing ideas. Outline of the supply chain for paper Outline of supply chain for paper begins with the growth of trees, raw materials for paper, up to the nearest storage facility to the product’s final consumer. The first stage in the chain is identification of suitable seeds by a gardener for quality trees. The gardener then grows the seeds into seedlings and in a process that is informed of agricultural skills. The gardener tends the seedlings, in a nursery, for a period until a stage at which the seedlings are mature enough to survive in a real environment for its species’ growth. The young tree is then transferred into a designated location that may be a domestic environment or a forest at which it is planted. Care of the young plant transfers from the gardener to an expert in tree husbandry who cares for the young plant until its maturity time. The mature tree is the cut into logs of wood and chipped to align the material into the production process. Chipping converts the blocks of wood to “wood pulp” that is modeled into “raw paper” (Palgrave n.d., n.p.). Further processing results into “large rolls of paper” that is then refined to smaller packages. At this stage, the product has been developed and further processes relates to packaging in desirable shapes and sizes for ultimate utility. Cutting of the smaller paper rolls follows into development of “sheets of paper” that is then wrapped as the final product. Transportation of the products follows from this point into wholesalers’ warehouses and storage facilities before further distribution to retailers’ warehouses from which the product is sold to consumers (Palgrave n.d., p. 8). The product’s supply chain outline identifies with features of the traditional supply chain. According to McKinnon et al., traditional supply chain consists of “suppliers, manufacturers, distribution centers, retailers, and customers” (2010, p. 102). Suppliers deliver raw materials to manufacturing companies that generate the finished products before delivery to intermediaries or retailers. Delivery to the intermediaries leads the products to retailers who offer the commodity to consumers. In the supply chain outline for paper, suppliers consist of the owners of the trees that are delivered as raw materials for the production process. The gardener, if operating independently from the tree farmer, can however be identified as a preliminary supplier. Processing companies that chip the delivered logs and process the raw materials into paper and paper sheets are the manufactures under the traditional supply chain. Transportation companies and wholesalers can be considered as distributors and retailers and consumers complete the traditional supply chain outline. This means that even though the supply chain outline for paper has a long process with numerous players and activities, it identifies the structure of the traditional supply chain (McKinnon et al. 2010, p. 102; Palgrave n.d., p. 8). Transportation and storage of through the supply chain and possible improvements The product is currently transported and stored under normal conditions that avoid damage. the measures however relates involved environments that aims at preserving the product and requires freedom from liquids, high levels of humidity and high temperature levels that may deform rolled papers. There is, however, no physical measure during transportation and storage because of the nature of the product that is less susceptible to physical damage under normal circumstances. While the current transportation of the product is not well structured for efficiency, the transportation can be improved in many ways. The first strategy is through outsourcing of transport services, an approach that relieves manufacturers, distributors, and retailers from an active role in transportation. This induces efficiency due to specialization as involved third parties normally focus on transport services and are informed of the involved logistics. Outsourcing also relieves the parties to the supply chain of the transportation burden and allows them to focus on their line of operations for higher quality services. Contracting an independent service provider for transportation also eliminates laxity due to accountability and independence between supply chain parties and providers of transport services. This approach will not only ensure safe delivery of materials and commodities but also ensure timely delivery for a cohesive supply chain (Trent 2008, p. 58, 59). An understanding, among parties to the supply chain, of the classes of transportation towards informed choices for service providers is also necessary for improving transportation in the supply chain of the product. Manufacturers, distributors, and retailers needs to understand each type of service providers because of the involved differences that are significant. Common carriers, one of the common type of service providers and offer standardized services for all commodities that their transport. Their scope therefore lacks specialization and may risk the product that is susceptible to extreme environments such as high humidity levels, high temperatures, and wetness. Contractors are another set of service providers and offers services under terms and nature of contracts. The providers are therefore likely to align their services to the nature of the materials or products to be delivered. This means that the class of transporters can guarantee safe deliveries. Independent contractors have also been associated with timely delivery and are therefore suitable for just-in-time inventory management that is associated with cost effectiveness and availability to required stock on demand. Privately owned transport system is another class of transportation services in the supply chain but associates with internal inefficiencies. Knowledge of available classes of service providers and the parties’ potentials can lead to informed decisions for better transportation. Negotiation skills are another strategy that can help in improving transportation of the product, paper. The skills can help managers of the manufacturing, distributing, and retailing institutions to achieve high quality services from the service providers (Trent 2008, p. 58- 60). Storage along the supply chain can however be improved through focus on “accuracy, cost control, cleanliness, efficiency, safety, and security,” aspects that have potentials to safeguard the final product and ensure efficient delivery to subsequent supply chain levels (Richards 2011, p. 28). Planning and control of the commodity’s production and the most appropriate method for Forecasting demand The production plan is based on past trend of demand for paper, and raw materials and other resources are mobilized to avoid shortage of paper supply to distributors. This approach to forecasting is not appropriate because it is susceptible interference such as seasonality and cyclic factors to demand. These determinants may relate to periods rather than time and means that forecasting on bases of past trend with respect to times of the year may not be accurate. A time series analysis that identifies different trend factors and incorporates the factors in forecasting is therefore appropriate for planning and controlling production of paper and its distribution along the supply chain. The forecasting approach is able to identify weighted significance of each time series factor for accurate forecasting, planning, and control of the production process (Machiwal, Jha and Zhang 2012, p. 92- 96; Boyer and Verma 2010, p. 149, 150). Consideration of lean manufacturing ideas for paper Lean manufacturing is an approach to achieving utility among different stakeholders and is therefore important to any corporate activity. The elements of lean manufacturing are significant and therefore appropriate to paper production process. One of the lean manufacturing elements is the need to generate reasonable values to consumers and is based on the moral value of delivering for the cost that consumers pay for the products. Meeting customers’ expectation is further important to competitiveness because dissatisfied customers are likely to shift to other paper manufacturers. A smooth flow of activities towards delivery to customers is another element of lean manufacturing and helps in identification of activities that are fundamental to manufacturing, those that improve the product’s value and waste activities for elimination. Waste elimination further has such advantages as cost and time efficiencies in the production process. Maintaining value in a product throughout the production system and reliance on customers’ need for generation of products and their specialized features are other fundamentals of lean production. Ensuring constant improvement in manufacturing processes is another important element of lean manufacturing and promotes efficiency and customer value in paper manufacturing processes. All the elements of lean manufacturing are applicable to paper manufacturing and are therefore appropriate for the production process. This means that lean manufacturing ideas should be incorporated in paper production (Gopalakrishan 2010, p. 41- 52). Works cited Boyer, K and Verma, R 2010, Operations and supply chain management for the 21st century, Cengage Learning, Mason. Gopalakrishan, N 2010, Simplified lean manufacturing, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. Machiwal, D Jha, M and Zhang, Z 2012, Hydrologic time series analysis: Theory and practice, Springer, New York. McKinnon, A et al. 2010, Green logistics: Improving the environmental sustainability of logistics, Kogan Page Publishers, London. Palgrave n.d. “Logistics and supply chain,” Palgrave, Retrieved August 15, 2013, . Richards, G 2011, Warehouse management: A complete guide to improving efficiency and minimizing costs in the modern warehouse, Kogan Page Publishers, London. Trent, R 2008, End-to-end lean management: A guide to complete supply chain improvement, J. Ross Publishing, Plantation. Read More