Introduction
This literature review examines the various supply chain challenges that organizations face today. Organizations are constantly adapting and responding to these changes with the advancement of technology, the implementation of new processes and technologies, and the increasing complexity of the global economy. The literature review will examine the different challenges and strategies organizations use to address. Examples of these challenges include supply chain complexity, supply chain risk management, supply chain visibility, supply chain optimization, and supply chain resilience.
Supply Chain Complexity
Today’s global supply chains are incredibly complex, with multiple suppliers, customers, and partners operating across various countries and continents. This complexity increases the risk of miscommunication and delays, costly mistakes, and inefficiencies. In addition, organizations must manage their supply chains within the constraints of ever-changing economic and regulatory conditions and disruptions caused by natural disasters and pandemics.
Some organizations have adopted advanced supply chain management systems to address this complexity to streamline processes, increase visibility, and reduce costs. These systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, provide automated data collection and analysis, allowing organizations to monitor better and manage their supply chains (Bandara & Jayawickrama, 2021). Additionally, organizations are leveraging the power of the Internet of Things (IoT) to gain real-time insights into their supply chains. By connecting all supply chain components, organizations can gain visibility into every stage of the process, enabling them to identify and address any problems quickly. Lastly, organizations embrace digital transformation, leveraging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to automate and optimize their supply chains. By automating manual processes, organizations can reduce costs, improve efficiency, and increase customer satisfaction (Tavana et al., 2020).
Overall, managing the complexity of today’s supply chains requires organizations to adopt innovative technologies and re-evaluate their processes to ensure that their supply chain remains efficient and cost-effective. By leveraging the latest technologies, organizations can gain real-time insights into their supply chain, allowing them to make informed decisions and optimize their operations.
Supply Chain Risk Management
Supply chain risk management is an emerging field that recognizes the importance of managing global supply chain risks. Identifying potential risks and developing strategies to mitigate them is essential to ensure the supply chain’s success. Risk management strategies address the risk associated with suppliers, customers, and the environment, as well as the associated financial and operational risks (Munir et al., 2020).
Risk identification is the first step in managing supply chain risk. It involves identifying potential risks, such as supply chain disruptions, quality issues, or financial losses. Once risks have been identified, strategies to mitigate them must be developed. These strategies may include measures such as diversifying suppliers, using multiple sources for sourcing or implementing quality assurance processes. Once strategies have been developed, monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of these strategies is essential to ensure that risks are being managed effectively. It can include monitoring supplier performance, tracking customer orders, and conducting regular audits.
Additionally, organizations may consider implementing a risk management system to track potential risks and monitor their progress. Finally, organizations must also evaluate their strategies and adjust them as needed. It may involve reviewing supplier contracts, evaluating supplier performance, and assessing customer feedback. By doing this, organizations can ensure that their supply chain risk management strategies remain effective and up to date (Munir et al., 2020).
Supply Chain Visibility
Supply chain visibility (SCV) is an organization’s system to monitor and track its supply chain operations from end to end, from the raw material supplier to the end customer. SCV is made possible through radio-frequency identification (RFID), a global positioning system (GPS), and barcoding. These technologies allow organizations to identify better, and track and monitor their products and shipments, giving them greater insight and control over their supply chain (Nayak et al., 2022).
SCV enables organizations to track the location of their products and shipments and collect data related to their suppliers, customers, and inventory. This data can then be used to improve communication and coordination between suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders in the supply chain. With this information, organizations can better anticipate customer orders and needs, adjust their production schedules to meet customer requirements, and provide more accurate delivery times (Sahoo et al., 2022).
In addition, SCV can help organizations identify and eliminate any supply chain inefficiencies and improve overall customer service. By having greater visibility into their supply chain, organizations can more quickly identify and address any issues that may arise, allowing them to respond to customer orders faster and more accurately.
In conclusion, SCV is an invaluable tool for organizations looking to optimize their supply chain operations. By using RFID, GPS, and barcoding technologies, organizations can gain real-time visibility into their supply chain and improve their responsiveness to customer needs. In turn, this leads to increased customer satisfaction and improved business performance.
Supply Chain Optimization
Supply chain optimization is the process of analyzing and improving the performance of a company’s entire supply chain, from suppliers to customers. It involves identifying areas where processes can be improved, streamlining operations, and utilizing analytics to make better decisions. Supply chain optimization aims to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction (Nunes et al., 2020).
The first step in supply chain optimization is to identify areas of improvement. It includes looking for ways to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and increase effectiveness. Companies should also assess their current supply chain processes and identify inefficiencies or redundancies. Once areas of improvement have been identified, the next step is to develop solutions that address these issues. The next step is to develop and implement analytics to measure performance. Analytics can help companies analyze their supply chain operations and make data-based decisions. It can provide insights into customer demand, supplier performance, and other areas where improvements can be made. Once the analytics have been implemented, the next step is to develop a strategy to implement the changes. It can include creating new processes, implementing new technology, or changing the way inventory is managed. Companies should also consider training their staff on new processes and technologies (Bentalha et al., 2019).
Supply chain optimization is an ongoing process and requires continual monitoring and adjustment. Companies should use data and analytics to measure performance and adjust as needed continuously. By following this process, organizations can ensure that their supply chain operations are running as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Supply Chain Resilience
Supply chain resilience is the ability of a business’s supply chain to quickly and effectively respond to disruptions in order to maintain customer service levels. It is the ability to recover, adapt and quickly respond to unexpected events or changes in the external environment. Supply chain resilience is becoming increasingly important as organizations rely more on global supply chains, and many have experienced disruptions due to natural disasters, pandemics, and other unforeseen events (Centobelli et al., 2020).
For organizations to build resilient supply chains, they must first assess the risks and vulnerabilities of their current supply chain. It includes understanding the potential impact of disruptions, likelihood, and strategies and resources available to mitigate the risks. Organizations should also create contingency plans and ensure they have access to alternative suppliers and sources of supply.
Organizations should also invest in technology such as supply chain visibility platforms, inventory management systems, and artificial intelligence to better anticipate and respond to disruptions and maintain customer service levels. Additionally, organizations should consider developing partnerships with third-party logistics providers and other supply chain stakeholders to improve communication and collaboration (Ganesh & Kalpana, 2022). Organizations must also be prepared to adjust their supply chain strategy when needed. It may include adjusting sourcing strategies, increasing inventory levels, or changing production and delivery processes. Additionally, organizations should strive to build trust and strengthen relationships with their suppliers, as this will improve communication and collaboration and help ensure continuity of supply in the event of a disruption. By taking these steps, organizations can ensure that their supply chains are resilient and able to respond quickly and effectively to disruptions. It will help ensure that customer service levels are maintained, even during unexpected events.
Conclusion
This literature review has examined the various supply chain challenges organizations face today. It has looked at the increasing complexity of the global supply chain, the need for risk management, technologies for visibility and optimization, and supply chain resilience. Organizations can be better prepared to respond and adapt to the changing environment by understanding these challenges.
References
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Bentalha, B., Hmioui, A., & Alla, L. (2019, October). The digitalization of the supply chain management of service companies: a prospective approach. In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Smart City Applications (pp. 1-8).
Centobelli, P., Cerchione, R., & Ertz, M. (2020). Managing supply chain resilience to pursue business and environmental strategies. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(3), 1215-1246.
Ganesh, A. D., & Kalpana, P. (2022). Future of artificial intelligence and its influence on supply chain risk management–A systematic review. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 108206.
Munir, M., Jajja, M. S. S., Chatha, K. A., & Farooq, S. (2020). Supply chain risk management and operational performance: The enabling role of supply chain integration. International Journal of Production Economics, 227, 107667.
Nayak, R., George, M., Haq, I. U., & Pham, H. C. (2022). Sustainability benefits of RFID technology in Vietnamese fashion supply chain. Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain, 5, 100086.
Nunes, L. J. R., Causer, T. P., & Ciolkosz, D. (2020). Biomass for energy: A review on supply chain management models. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 120, 109658.
Sahoo, S., Kumar, A., Mishra, R., & Tripathi, P. (2022). Strengthening Supply Chain Visibility With Blockchain: A PRISMA-Based Review. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.
Tavana, M., Hajipour, V., & Oveisi, S. (2020). IoT-based enterprise resource planning: Challenges, open issues, applications, architecture, and future research directions. Internet of Things, 11, 100262.
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