INTEGRATING THE SUPPLY CHAIN FLOWS FOR BUSINESS EFFECTIVENESS

Abstract

Every transaction, toward physical exchange of goods involves flows of information, material, money, manpower and capital equipment, wherein flows involving information, material and money are vital to maneuver. The exchange of goods necessitates physical flow, information flow and financial flow imbibing inbound logistics and outbound logistics to deliver right material, at right place in right time with right information. The financial flow involves the transaction made either in soft or hard format calls for documents for purchase, sales, shipping, inventory, billing etc. The outcome of every transaction involves exchange of funds. The real hidden potential among the various flows has not been tapped for many decades as the various flows remained unsynchronized. An attempt made to optimize flow singly resulted in vain hence for reaping maximum benefits, the combination of the three flows has to be integrated and optimized. This paper studies the conditions that have led the industry to acknowledge the relationship among these three flows, how their integration will improve efficiency all along the value chain, and the key challenges faced by the decision makers for achieving that integration. Finally, a case study of a hypothetical company Reliablecure, an Indian medical supplies company, has been illustrated for its successful ability to get the highly perishable surgical wound adhesives from its' manufacturing facility in Austria to surgeons across the US, just by seamless integration across the value chain.