Within organisations, such as a manufacturer or distributors, supply chains will include all the areas involved in receiving and fulfilling any customer requests.
These functions include, but are not limited to;
New Product Development/Research and Development (R&D)
New product development (NPD) refers to all efforts to create a new product, process or service. This involves, generally, a five-stage process of the idea generation, a business and/or technical assessment, the product or process concept development, engineering and design of the product or service and finally, the building of the prototype with testing and pilot.
Marketing – This is a management process where goods, products and services are moved from being a concept to reality for the customer. Within marketing, there are generally four processes known as the four Ps.
- The Product identification, selection and development,
- The determined Price of the product,
- The selection process of distributing the product to the Place of the customer,
- The Promotional development and implementation strategy.
Procurement/Purchasing – Purchasing personnel are in a position to consider every stage of a business’ processes, from raw materials to waste management and can aid in identifying ways of making efficiencies and opportunities to improve product quality.
Suppliers are linked with Procurement and Purchasing as it is usually the responsibility of this function to source the right suppliers to match their business requirements. Suppliers are the individuals or businesses that provide goods and services to a business and, as such, do not have much interaction with the customers directly.
Logistics Services – Usually broken down into further functions logistics includes vital functions such as transportation of materials, end-products, and equipment, and the inventory and warehousing of parts, packaging, and of course, finished products.
- Transportation – Transportation determines the efficient movement of products and without a developed transport system, logistics could not bring its advantages into full play. A good transport system provides better efficiency, reduces operation costs and promotes service quality.
- Warehousing – Warehousing facilities play a vital role in the overall supply chain process. Warehousing itself is the performance of the admin and physical functions that are required to store goods and materials.
- Distribution – Distribution is the movement of goods and services from the original source to completion to the final customer with the flow of payment in the opposite direction to the original supplier.