Supply chain management involves the management of the flow of commodities, either products or services. So naturally, the “supply chain manager job” involves keeping a thorough track of a company’s logistics and updating its inventory accordingly. Although the term “supply chain management” was coined by Keith Oliver in 1982, its concept and practice began much earlier with the assembly line and the instances of mass production. On that note, the supply chain manager collaborates with the suppliers and vendors to ensure that all the shipping and delivery operations are carried out with quality and safety protocols. The following sections describe the profession.
What is a supply chain manager job?
The supply chain manager manages diverse sets of processes involved in moving commodities from their procurement to shipment. So, naturally, they work in the five main areas:
- Strategic planning
- Procurement of raw materials
- Management of logistics
- Lift-truck operation
- Shipment scheduling
- Control of inventory
- Management of assembly line
- Supplier Management
- Inventory maintenance
- Space Planning
- Supplier Management
- Process Analysis and vigilance
- Data maintenance and updations
Thus, the entire operation completes the shipment of finished goods.
What does a supply chain manager do?
- Flow alignment – This involves money, materials, and information movement from the suppliers to the customers.
- Function integration – This involves integration between logistics, purchasing and operation.
- Process coordination – The coordination is made between plan, sources, production, and delivery.
- Complex system designing – This step involves using simulation tools that forecast the outcome of a supply chain plan and the difficulties.
- Resource management – They include people, processes, and technology.
What do supply chain management job duties include?
The supply chain management duties include the following divisions of labour in the supply chain manager job:
- Purchasing – buying the right resources and proper maintenance of finance of the company.
- Manufacturing – Conversion of raw materials to finished commodities.
- Inventory management – maintaining the optimum number of items in the inventory.
- Demand Planning – forecasting the market demand and performing the operation.
- Warehousing – Receipt, inspection, and storage of goods before shipment.
- Transportation management – Movement of people and commodities through air, water, land, cable, pipeline, or space transport.
- Customer service – dealing with customer satisfaction, query and problems.
Job brief for supply chain operations
The supply chain manager job is exemplified by certain key performance indicators that encompass the following:
- Perfect order and timely delivery
- Accurate documentation
- Cash cycle time
- Customer order cycle
- Order Line and Unit filling rate
- Inventory usage and maintenance
- Bill accuracy
- Outstanding sales
- Inventory turnover and velocity
- Gross Margin and return of investment
Naturally, the job brief for supply chain operations include covering up all the above aspects in the following sales:
- Promotion of design operations
- Inventory and data management
- Shipment, scheduling, vigilance, and transportation of goods.
Responsibilities of a supply chain manager
There are certain authoritative responsibilities that a supply chain manager job encompasses. On that note, the responsibilities of a supply chain manager are as follows:
- Planning the chain of operation, strategies, and delivery timetables
- To make sure that the stores have enough stocks
- To make sure the suppliers have enough stocks to meet the demands
- To oversee the orders and packaging operations
- To monitor the levels of stocks
- Tracking commodities from depots to destinations in proper form
- To look after the scheduling and arrival of shipments
- Motivate, recruit and train the workforce
Requirements for supply chain manager job
The supply chain manager job is of many types. They are; Purchase Manager, Strategic Planner, Materials analyst, Supply Chain Manager, and Warehouse Manager. These different types of jobs operate at three levels; strategic, tactical, and operational. These types require some basic qualifications. These qualifications, certifications, and requirements for a supply manager job are as follows:
- Logistics
- Softwares
- Transport management
- Geography
- NVQ in distribution, warehousing, storage operations support system management.
Various accredited institutions provide different kinds of degrees like a B.Tech, MBA, or diploma. In addition, individualized short courses are also there.
The average salary for a supply chain manager job
Key skills of a supply chain manager
When it comes to a supply chain manager job, a few models operate in the industry. These models are; Continuous flow, fast-chain, efficient-chain, agile, custom-configured, and flexible. Based on the types described above of operations, the key skills of a supply chain manager are as follows:
- A good team leader
- Good planning skills
- Initiative and authoritative skills
- Great knowledge of geography
- Attentive to details
- Master in spreadsheets, databases and IT Programmes
- Ability to remain calm-headed and handle adversities
- Ability to communicate very well with different kinds of languages as an advantage.
Why pursue a career in supply chain management?
Pursuing a career in any field requires a lot of passion, skills, and devotion. Naturally, a profession has different meanings for different individuals who want to pursue the same. People who love business operations can pursue a career for a supply chain manager job. Following are the reasons why pursuing a career in supply chain management:
- Logistics is an ever-expanding field even in the face of recession
- The job offers high pay and sustainability, as exemplified in the previous sections
- Abundant travel, internship, industrial exposure, fewer barriers, and multi-location job availability.
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How to become a supply chain manager?
To enter into a supply chain manager job, one must remember three steps: developing necessary key skills, obtaining the right qualifications from the accredited institutions, obtaining maximum internships and hands-on training, and joining a good company. To categorize on how to become a supply chain manager, the following are the steps:
- Academic qualifications – The candidates must obtain a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in supply chain management from approved institutions.
- Experience – Candidates can obtain relevant experience from training or short recognized courses.
- Skills – Candidates must develop skills of communication, time, and operations management.
Conclusion
Like every profession, the supply chain manager job has also got its own share of perils and disadvantages that one must take note of. Varying political, demographic, pandemic, legal and economic conditions do affect the supply chain management and the companies. The different considerations an aspiring candidate must keep in mind are; time management, financial investment and management of resources.
Apart from all these, the major lookout for any professional must be effective mitigation and improved cash management to attain success.
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