Supply Chain & Organisational Structure in British Army - Term Paper Example

Supply Chain Strategy Table of Contents Theme 1 2 Introduction 2 Features of Effective Supply Chain 3 Strategy, Supply Chain Planning and Strategic Process 4 Developing Supply Chain Strategy 5 Supply Chain & Organisational Structure 6 Theme 2 8 Introduction 8 Time Based Mapping 8 JIT and Lean Supply 9 Agile Supply Chain 10 Improvements 11 References 12 Bibliographies 15 Theme 1 Introduction The changing nature of the business processes irrespective of industries and corporations have its effect even in the purchasing decisions of the companies. Today, with massive development in the channels of communication and technology, the purchasing function of the companies have been transformed to more of supplying from the vendors. The companies are maintaining complete database of the suppliers so that the required products are available to them at the right time at the right place. To deal with the matter efficiently, the modern day companies are emphasising on supply chain management. Supply chain management is the process undertaken by the companies so that they get their requisite raw materials in time. To have an effective supply chain management, companies are undertaking measures like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or MRP (as the case may be) basically to reduce cost. Supply chain strategy is much broader compared to supply chain management. It can be referred as the strategies taken by the corporations so that they are aligned with overall business strategy to attain greater efficiencies. British Army is one of the most reputed armies in the world. Their roles have been recognised through out the world with great enthusiasm. Along with the defense of the United Kingdom, the troop is also bestowed responsibilities of guarding and ensuring lives of the citizens of different parts of the world. Therefore, proper supply chain management as well as supply chain strategy of the concern is extremely crucial for the organisation for smooth functioning. Features of Effective Supply Chain Various features that are essential for effective supply chain are as follows: Organisation – To ensure effective supply chain, proper assessment of the organisational objectives and goals are very vital. The organisation as a whole should have enough flexibility to align itself with the supply chain strategies. Process – The process followed by the organisation is important as without integrating the procedures followed with in the organisation, the corporation can not expect to attain success in supply chain strategy e.g. British Army has certain fixed processes of doing things and therefore to have successful supply chain strategy, it must be able to align it with the supply chain strategy. Technology – In modern organisational perspective, technology holds supreme importance. Therefore to have an effective supply chain strategy, the technological factors should be properly assessed and all possible assistance should be taken. People – People should be selected in such a way that it befits the supply chain requirement of the organisation. The human capital should have job-fitness with respect to the supply chain strategy (Bolstroff, 2006). Strategy, Supply Chain Planning and Strategic Process The term ‘strategy’ had been first used in context of army to win war. In modern perspective, it can be referred as the way or the process of attaining organisational objectives. Strategy is very crucial for any organisation as whatever might be the objective or mission; it can be achieved only with proper planning and implementation of strategy. Many of the efforts of various corporations across the globe did not materialize because of improper supply chain management or rather supply chain planning. The foremost step of the effective supply chain planning is that the organisation should be able to make accurate forecasts regarding the demands (EPIQ, n.d.). If the organisation fails to do so, it might not get the required material at the necessary time. This would invariably hurt the organisation. And if it is the case of army, it would be a huge setback. Without the necessary arms and ammunitions and other equipments at the required time, the army would be on the verge of suicide. Also without adequate supply chain planning, the organisation has to bear excess cost as it has to make stop gap provisions for materials. The strategic process is the future roadmap for the organisation decided by the top management. As it is a strategic process, it has long term implications. The strategic process of British Army is often decided by the Commander in Chief Land Forces on consultation with Commander Field Army and Commander Regional Forces and Joint Helicopter Command (British Army, n.d.). The strategic decision making should have should have proper alignment with the supply chain strategy. Developing Supply Chain Strategy To reap the maximum benefits of the supply chain strategy, the organisations try and develop supply chain strategy. The major guiding factors of such development can be enumerated as below: Understand the business strategy – Prior to developing any new supply chain strategy, the existing strategies of the organisation should be understood with clarity. The prevalent strategies of British Army should get aligned with the new strategies. Therefore, the supply chain strategies should be based upon the needs and requirements of the organisation. Asses the extended supply chain – The present supply chain management as well as the supply chain strategy should be extended and assessed if it can serve the newer requirements. Develop an implementation plan – As it is found the newer requirements can not be met with in the existing periphery of the organisation and the supply chain strategy, the newly developed strategy should be implemented with due importance. As it is often found that people are susceptible to change, so the planning of implementation of crucial. The development plan can be comprised of roles and responsibilities, performance metrics and corresponding timeline along with activities and tasks. Development considerations – While developing supply chain strategy, the organisation should have due collaboration with its supply chain partners except which the entire mechanism might fall flat. Also, the organisation should be able to allocate opportunities to outsource its requirements. (UPS, 2005). Supply Chain & Organisational Structure Supply chain is much dependent upon the organisational structure of any organisation. This is truer in case of strict disciplined institutions like that of British Army. The supply chain strategy cannot be changed all of a sudden for the Army has it involves the factors like honesty, confidentiality and integrity of the suppliers as it involves the security of the nation. The organisational leadership of the British Army commences from the post of Corporal to Captain to Major. Higher above the group, the army have Lieutenant Colonel, Brigadier and Major-General. Major General leads a division. At the strategic level, the army has 1st, 3rd and 6th Division along with Theatre Troops and Land Warfare Centre under Commander Field Chief Army. 16 Air Assault Brigade is guided by Joint Helicopter Command where as Commander (Regional Forces) leads 2nd division, 4th division, 5th division, London District, Army Recruiting and Training Division and United Kingdom Support Command. To have a proper supply chain in place the requests have to come from the lower level of leadership with in the proper time. Theme 2 Introduction Supply chain management and supply chain strategy are the need of the hour. Every organisation tries to use its resources optimally as they are scarce. The fact also has contributed towards the development of supply chain management. Along with it, another factor that has come up is that of time base competition. In the modern world, time is referred as the scope of earning more revenue. The essence of time base management says that with the better utilization of time, the organisation or the firm can increase its competitive advantage. With the turn around developments in the fields of technology and communication, the onus lies on the organisation to use time in its advantage. Time Based Mapping Time based mapping is quite important for proper functioning of the supply chain. In fact, time is sometimes referred as the product of cost and time mapping (Ayers, 2006). The suppliers of the organisation needs time to validate the supply. It is more prudent incase of heavy material suppliers like that in the case of British Army. As the organisation orders the material like that of war equipments or guns or vehicles, the supplier can not provide them with such highly technological goods. Therefore, proper time mapping is the absolute necessity. The army should order the materials with sufficient time in hand. It should have adequate lead time so that the operations are not hampered. For example, when the army is planning to send its troops to hot and humid areas of Iraq and Afghanistan, it should be order the required materials to sustain in those topographies well in advance. Again, if the organisation orders for the required war materials much before, it would loss in terms of opportunity cost of the funds allocated for the purpose. Therefore, proper time mapping is must for the success of supply chain. JIT and Lean Supply JIT stands for Just in Time. It has been a very popular concept originally formulated in Japan. According to this concept, the organisation would not keep any finished goods in stock. Rather it would produce the goods as and when there is an order. Also the concept stresses upon the fact that there is minimum defects and the lead time is being reduced. Just in Time approach expects to attain all the factors with in the minimum cost. Toyota has followed the system and has been successful. According to the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) lean manufacturing can be defined as, “A philosophy of production that emphasises the minimization of the amount of all the resources (including time) used in the various activities of the enterprise. It involves: identifying and eliminating non-value-adding activities employing teams of multi-skilled workers using highly flexible, automated machines” (ROAD, n.d.). Thus, it can be understood that the lean strategy deals with the minimization of wastage of all resources as they are scarce. The strategy also emphasises upon having multi skilled teams along with automated machines. JIT and lean supply is difficult to achieve in the strategic field of army as it is related with the security of citizens of the nations. The above said concepts can be applied only with the presence of efficient supply chain strategy. Agile Supply Chain In the changing world of today, agility and flexibility is must for proper functioning of any process. Same is true in the case of supply chain strategies. It might so happen that the particular pre-defined way is not functioning as per the expected way. To overcome such situation, the organisation must be able to change its course of action and resort to some other plans to have efficient supply chain management in place. Supply chain can be defined as the sequence of linked activities which contributes to design, manufacture and delivery of products and services. The agility of the supply chain actually measures the wellness of the relationship among the three vital factors (Yusuf, et. al., 2003). British Army should try and maintain cordial relationship with its suppliers so that they can influence their suppliers to make more customized products that would enhance the core competencies of the group. Improvements British Army is one of the most revered institutions across the globe. The army is supreme in terms of training and equipments. Yet there have been certain drawbacks that the troop is facing at present in terms of supply chain. It has been reported repeatedly that the army has been deprived of the requisite materials at the front. The reports suggested that only 57% of the equipments reached the destination with in the stipulated time at the fronts of Afghanistan which led to the cannibalization of equipments. The spare parts of helicopters were late to reach (Defence Talk, n.d.). There have been obstacles but recently British Army has made improvement even if they did not the supply chain limit. To improve the supply chain strategy, the mighty British Army should take the benefits of the technological progress along with dedicated infrastructure. The troop should be able to align its operational strategy with the supply chain strategy to remain hassle free. There should be proper communication channel in place in between the suppliers and the concerned department of the army. References Ayers, J. B., 2006. Handbook of Supply Chain Management. CRC Press. Bolstroff, P., 2006. Effective Supply Chain Strategy. SCE Limited. [Pdf] Available at: http://www.scelimited.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/supplychainstrategy.pdf [Accessed July 29, 2009]. British Army, No Date. British Army Structure. Ministry of Defense. [Online] Available at: http://www.army.mod.uk/structure/structure.aspx [Accessed July 29, 2009]. Defence Talk, No Date. Britain Struggling to Re-supply Afghan Frontline. Defence Talk. [Online] Available at: http://www.defencetalk.com/britain-struggling-to-re-supply-afghan-frontline-18939/ [Accessed July 29, 2009]. EPIQ, No Date. Supply Chain Planning Systems. EPIQ. [Online] Available at: http://www.epiqtech.com/supply_chain-Planning-Systems.htm [Accessed July 29, 2009]. ROAD, No Date. Just In Time and Lean Manufacturing. Repository of Online Academic Documents. [Online] Available at: road.uww.edu/.../Ch12.%20JIT%20&%20Lean%20Manufacturing.ppt [Accessed July 29, 2009]. UPS, 2005. Supply Chain Strategy. UPS Supply Chain Solutions. [Pdf] Available at: http://www.ups-scs.com/solutions/white_papers/wp_supply_chain.pdf [Accessed July 29, 2009]. Yusuf, Y. Y., Gunasekaran, A., Adeleye, E., Sivayoganathan, K., 2003. Agile supply chain capabilities: Determinants of competitive objectives. Europen Journal of Operational Research. [Pdf] Available at: http://www.umassd.edu/charlton/birc/agile_scm.pdf [Accessed July 29, 2009]. Bibliographies Anderson, S., et. al., 2003. Supply Chain Management. WSI. [Pdf] Available at: http://www.ws-i.org/SampleApplications/SupplyChainManagement/2003-12/SCMUseCases1.0.pdf [Accessed July 29, 2009]. Byrnes, J., 2005. Achieving Supply Chain Productivity. Harvard Business School. [Online] Available at: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4682.html [Accessed July 29, 2009]. Liu, W., Zhang, Y., Lou, W. & Fang, Y., 2004. Managing Wireless Sensor Networks with Supply Chain Strategy. Worcester Polytechnic Institute. [Pdf] Available at: http://ece.wpi.edu/~wjlou/publication/QSHINE04-Liu.pdf [Accessed July 29, 2009]. Stolle, M., 2008. From Purchasing to Supply Management: A Study of the Benefits and Critical Factors of Evolution to Best Practice. Gabler Verlag. Read More