How to gain greater control over your supply chain operations

Use the right software to streamline critical processes

Effective and efficient supply chain management is essential for any wholesale and distribution business. However, especially for SMEs, the rewards for getting the balance right and the penalties for getting it wrong can significantly impact business success. Whether your business is struggling to combat the impact of COVID or has ambitious growth plans for 2022, visibility and control over your supply chain will be vital to meeting your objectives.

On the face of things, supply chain operations should be straightforward. After all, we’re dealing with a linear process. You receive an order from a customer. You either fulfil the order from the current inventory or place an order with a supplier. A delivery date is confirmed, and goods are dispatched. What could possibly go wrong?

There is more than one opportunity to drop the ball with so many moving parts and dependencies in the supply chain. Inefficiencies can creep into the process quickly if you don’t have access to real-time stock data or if your forecasting is off and there is a mismatch between supply and demand. This either leads to customers having to wait for extended lead times to get the products they want, or warehouses are filled with excessive stock levels. Neither is a good outcome.

Supply Chain Solutions

So how do you avoid these common issues? The key is visibility and control. For many organisations, this means having an integrated software solution in place to effectively handle sales, procurement and inventory management workflows from a single dashboard.

The majority of these ERP Solutions will automate critical processes that are triggered when sales orders are added to a system. Backordering products to avoid stockouts, for example, can lower inventory cycle times and help reduce costs.

Forecasting plays a vital role in effective supply chain management, and accurate forecasting depends on access to the correct management information. Sales directors and warehouse managers can’t be expected to predict the future. However, by providing access to both historical and real-time data for analysis, they can get a more accurate picture of inventory in and out and gain insight into potential changes in supply or demand.

Supplier Management Software

When you’re working with a centralised solution, it’s not only customer orders that you’ll have greater insight into. You’ll determine who can offer you the most competitive deals and calculate their lead times by analysing your suppliers.

Once you’re able to analyse factors such as delivery times, cost, the quality of goods provided and the fulfilment rates of orders, it will give you a better idea of which supplier to send your next purchase order to. This will also help you create a list of preferred vendors, so you’re not always dealing with the same supplier or facing the same frustrations if you have problems with deliveries or quality control.

Although it may seem more manageable for your accounts team to work with a single supplier, ranking your suppliers and using real-world data to understand their strengths and weaknesses allows you to set automation up within your system to streamline your supply chain. By raising automatic POs with minimum order quantities that have approvals from critical stakeholders, your business will be able to get goods in faster to match customer demand.

Even small businesses can have extensive supply chains. Business continuity is often about eliminating single points of failure, which means maintaining relationships with multiple vendors for individual products or services. The more vendors you have in your supply chain, the more complex it becomes to manage, and with complexity comes risk. Implementing a supply chain automation system is one of the best ways to mitigate this risk.

SAP Supply Chain Software

SEIDOR specialises in implementing and supporting SAP Business One and SAP Business ByDesign - integrated ERP Solutions for growing companies working within the wholesale & distribution industries. Across the UK, our supply chain solutions are used to help automate and streamline critical processes.

All of our SAP-powered solutions can capture and process sales orders either directly from customers via popular eCommerce sites or entered directly by your sales team. These end-to-end applications can manage subsequent business tasks to automate operations, boost productivity and, ultimately, profits for your organisation.

The best way to understand the advantages of a single platform to manage your supply chain operations is to see it in action. Why not get in touch and ask for a free demonstration? Take the first step towards greater supply chain visibility and control. Get in Touch with SEIDOR today, or if you'd like to speak to one of our team, please call us on 01932 212 777