Information flow key in efficient, effective supply chain management

The role of information flow in supply chain management (SCM) and emergence of specialised supply chains were discussed at length at a national conference on ‘Challenges of supply chain management in 21st century' — jointly organised by the SDM College of Business Management, Mangalore, and Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) — here on Monday.

Speaking at the inauguration of the conference, Mr K.S. Koppalkar, Group General Manager of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), said that SCM is not just the flow of physical material but also the flow of information to various stakeholders such as the suppliers; procurement, finance and accounts departments of the organisation concerned; and the end-user departments involved in using the material being supplied.

This information flow helps in the efficient use of bare minimum resources in effective manner. He said that the focus today is shifting from SCM to value chain management.

Integrated biz partners

Elaborating on this, Mr Koppalkar said, the suppliers today are not just suppliers but are being tightly integrated as business partners to evolve a company's supply chain into an optimally efficient, customer-satisfying process, where the effectiveness of the whole supply chain is more important than the effectiveness of each individual department.

Delivering the keynote address, Dr R. Jagadeesh, professor at SDM Institute for Management Development, Mysore, said that special supply chains are gaining prominence these days.

key factor

Giving the example of floriculture industry, he said many entrepreneurs are taking up floriculture in a big way. To cater to the needs of this sector, special flights are being operated now from Bangalore to the Netherlands with export consignments of flowers. This is important as flowers have short shelf-life compared to other commodities. Such specialised supply chains are also visible in handling fish and vegetables.

Delivery of the goods in the limited available time is the major factor in these chains, he said.

Inaugurating the conference, Dr B.R. Ananthan, Vice-Chancellor of Rani Channamma University, Belgaum, said that SCM involves cost, time and service considerations. Value is added in each stages of SCM.

He termed customer relationship management as one of the important areas of SCM, as it plays major role in many of the decisions taken.

Ms Lata Kini, President of KCCI, who presided over the inaugural session, said that the success of any organisation depends on its SCM. The cost-effective and time-bound manner in which the goods reach the customers is very important, she added.