Free Supply Chain Management: Case Study Sample

Introduction

The business frontier is highly competitive and dependent on effective strategies and functional mandates towards successful outcomes. As such, most organizations are realizing the significant role of supply chain management towards ensuring competitive advantage and sustenance of profitability. As such, supply chain management encompasses all the holistic activities that ensure access to products and services to the customers. The investment into supply chain management, as per the diverse analysts should be integrated effectively to ensure seamless processes within the organization. Thus, this paper will examine Nature Valley bars and how it can embrace supply chain management as per the case questions.

What are the main activities (facilities, transportation, storage, etc.) followed to ensure the end-product reaches its end-consumer?

Supply chain management plays a pivotal role towards successful performance within an organization. Supply chain management is holistic within all the physical aspects of distribution and material management at Nature Valley bars. From the evaluation of the organization, the main activities that are followed to ensure the end products reach the end consumer:
Inventory management: inventory management entails the analysis of the raw materials within the organization. Through analysis of the inventory within the business, the procurement manager can make more purchases towards production of the bars by the business (Kayak 2013). Additionally, inventory management denotes effective storage and management of the raw materials.
Inbound transportation: inbound transportation denotes effective tracking of the raw materials. A real time analysis of the products from the supplier to the organization is highly fundamental within Nature Valley bars.
Material handling: material handling, mainly at Nature Valley bars denotes analysis of the supplies and ensuring they meet the product specification. As an organization that handles highly perishable products, it is imperative for an in-depth analysis of the raw materials to ensure freshness and conformity to the quality standards (Kamauff, 2009).
Operations management: operations management entails analysis of the holistic operations towards production of its trademark products. Effective analysis of the material and technical resource is mandatory prior to the processing process.
Warehousing management: warehousing encompasses proper storage of the finished products. Through plausible management of the finished products, the organization can keep track of the products as they anticipate and meet the demands evident.
Outbound transportation: outbound transportation is the inculcation of the diverse transport facilities such as vans, Lorries towards meeting the demands. Among its diverse clients are the large retail stores, local groceries and so forth.
Draw a diagram of the main activities indicating the location of all these activities.  Illustrate the physical flow of the goods through all these activities (with lead times if provided. 
The operations within Nature Valley Bars are highly dynamic as aforesaid. According, from the evaluation of the organization, the five main processes are undertaken in Minneapolis in which the organization is headquartered. As such, the organization relies heavily on the local farmers for its supplies. Localization and globalization of the sourcing approaches is evident at Nature Valley Bars (Kaynak, 2013). Furthermore, the production facilities and warehousing facilities are within the local mandate in its headquarters.
Add the current business processes (e.g. ordering, manufacturing, selling, etc.) that affect the flow of goods (with lead times if provided).

Manufacturing

Nature Valley Bars highly invests into the just in time manufacturing process. As such, the manufacturing process denotes the production of goods that meet the demand levels. As such, the inculcation of the manufacturing process is highly advisable for the organization since it minimizes the inventory costs within the business. The reduction in inventory costs is highly effective due to the shelf life of its numerous products. Furthermore, the present economic frontier, US has mainly swayed towards competitiveness in the operational manufacturing process of an organization. Streamlining activities directed towards obtaining maximized utilization of resources and enhancing productivity has become an operative mandate among businesses. Operational planning and control forms a crucial tool towards the coordination of activities within the production system through emphatic planning and control. Operational planning and control, in reference to Kolli (2013) is highly comparable to the nervous system and through operational control and planning, Nature Valley Bars manages to;

Effectively utilize resources

Accomplish production objectives with reference to quality, quantity, cost coupled with the timeliness of delivery of products and services
Sustain uninterrupted production flow to meet clientele diverse demands with respect to the quality and committed delivery time schedule
Assist the company in their supply of quality products to their customers within a perpetual basis coupled with competitive rates
Ordering
Ordering of products at Nature Valley Bars is within both traditional and current mandate. As the first approach, customers that already have an established relationship with the organization can make calls and make pre-orders on the products they require. On the other hand, the organization has realized the significance of online market (Kolli 2013). As such, individuals and organizations can make online orders of the products required. The online approach has been highly successful for the organization since individuals can make orders from the online platform from the diverse countries.

Selling

Nature Valley Bars depends highly on a multiple distribution channel towards its performance approach. Admittedly, the most fundamental customers within the organization are stores, restaurants, schools and health care facilities. The multiple customers denote a highly plausible avenue towards mass domination in regards to sustenance of profitability. Distribution approach is highly effective towards ensuring sales levels that are high.
Are there any obvious flaws/problems with any or parts of the supply chain (e.g. process too cumbersome; duplication of activities; complicated process; lengthy processes; very costly; wastage or redundancies; etc.)?

Does the current supply chain contribute (or align) to the achievement of the product strategy and overall company objectives?

The supply chain approach at Nature Valley Bars is highly aligned to the organizational objectives. The organizational vision statement is towards provision of quality centric products that ensure delivery of healthy and nourishing products. Thus, within the supply chain process, the organization invests into plausible transportation, manufacturing and selling process. Investing into the three main processes is highly advisable for the organization since it ensures that fresh and quality products are delivered to the consumers (Murthy 2012). Most fundamentally, the just in time manufacturing process ensures that the organization quickly and affectingly manufactures its products as per the orders made. An efficient and effective production process that is timely ensures fresh and nutritional products to the consumer market.

Conclusion

Business operations depend on effective supply chain management. From the evaluation of Nature Valley Bars, the investment into the supply chain strategies is highly advisable towards profitability and meeting the customer demands. However, it is imperative that the organization re-evaluates its inventory and warehouse management process towards minimization of the costs incurred in handling the raw and finished products.

References

Kamauff, J. (2009). Manager's guide to operations management. New York: McGraw Hill Professional.
Kaynak, H. (2013). Total quality management and just-in-time purchasing: Their effects on performance of firms operating in the U.S. London: Routledge.
Kolli, S. (2013). Production & operations management essentials. New York: Research & Education Assoc.
Murthy, R. (2012). Production and operations management. New Jersey: New Age International.