Do companies run unique supply chains for each market segment?
Couple of days back, I was in touch with one of my colleagues about a supply chain pursuit for one of the leading supply chain companies in the world. And that particular experience led me to this blog of mine which is about "unique supply chains" within the four walls of the company tailored for each market segment it caters to.
I am sharing few thoughts here - more so in form of questions that I have. I will really urge each one of you to share your thoughts and experiences on this subject.
Just imagine a global organization servicing few market segments such as say for example - 'enterprise' and 'customer' to name a few. Both the market segments have different operating models - so for example: 'enterprise' is more of ATO/CTO scenario while 'customer' is more of MTS environment. Both the models work differently from each other and therefore, the questions that I have are:
• Are the operations managed centrally or as unique supply chains?
• Do they share common tools / platforms?
• Is the SCM organization centralized or decentralized?
• Do they leverage the same supply chain assets and global partnerships?
In my opinion, based on my experience in India and outside with few of our clients, I feel:
• There is no specific concept of having unique supply chains tailored for market segments such as enterprise and consumer. The two market segments can be treated like two different business units focused on different set of customers but still works on the same supply chain structure.
• The planning is done for all products and for all market segments it caters to - 'globally" or "at one point in time" - they follow the same cycles.
• The assets such as factories, machines, 3PLs are shared. The tools (IT systems) are definitely the same.
• Usually a centralized supply chain structure. But there could be supply chain folks managing each channel / market segment sitting next to each other and leveraging their relationships and mutual understanding to fulfill orders by deciding postponement and allocation of orders.
• What could differ is the organization of sales teams and therefore, how the demand is forecasted and finalized and used for production planning. The performance metrics are definitely different.
What is your point of view? What have you seen in leading companies across the globe? Any industry: be it Hi-tech, CPG or any discrete manufacturing company. The scenario that I have mentioned looks very common and therefore, I am sure you would have experienced it somewhere in the past.
I really want to know how it works. How are companies fulfilling these unique set of needs of different market segments through their supply chain structure?
Please do share your comments and feedback...
