Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Broad Classification
IT infrastructure
& Applications Supply Chain Management HR
Quality Planning
Three Vertical Functions in Supply Chain Management:
1) Purchase / Procurement: Job profile includes dealing with suppliers, negotiating on terms and
conditions, price, quality and delivery issues. Working out CIP (cost improvement projects) to
reduce cost to company for the procured materials or services. Relationship building with
suppliers, ranking them and selecting optimal combination of price, quality and delivery
flexibility. Standardization and Rationalization of RM/PMs can be other areas of work in
Purchase and Procurement. It may also include setting up VMI interface with Suppliers and
extending planning and/or integration platform to the suppliers (ERPII concept). It has two
branches:
a. Direct Purchase/Procurement: It includes all RM, PM etc. which go directly in
manufacturing of Finished Goods.
b. Indirect Purchase/Procurement: It includes all other materials/services which do not go
directly into FG but are needed as support. E.g. Cleaning equipments, Flight reservation
for business trips, office stationery procurement etc.
2) Operations / Manufacturing: Job profile includes monitoring operations of factories,
warehouses etc. Projects like commissioning of plants, productivity improvement, OEE
improvements, changeover time reduction, Kaizen projects, Six Sigma projects, Lean Culture
Implementation, Kanban implementation etc. may be given. There may be a few conventional
projects like Time and Motion Study to reduce setup time and overall cycle time.
3) Inbound and Outbound Logistics: Job profile includes setting up/monitoring distribution
network, dealing with transporters for rate, quality of service etc. Project like Distribution
network redesigning / modification due to change in volume of business or tax structure,
Distribution planning, Setting up inventory norms (in coordination with planning) etc. can be
given. It may also include projects like primary freight reduction, secondary distribution strategy
planning etc.
4) Quality: Job profile includes assuring quality in RM/PM/FG etc as per specifications and
guidelines given by company. It also includes new product specification setup, coordinating with
purchase officer and supplier for supplier self certifications (SSC), Reducing cycle time of quality
checking etc.
5) Planning: Planning is an umbrella function that helps Purchase, Manufacturing and Distribution
to coordinate in an effective manner. It includes production and distribution planning as per
customer requirements. The target is to provide maximum customer service while maintaining a
minimum and evenly distributed inventory in the system. Setting up BOM for new materials,
running up Schedule for Manufacturing (MPS) and generating material requirements (MRP) etc.
are the key areas of production planning.
6) HR: HR function in SCM includes handling all workers’ wages, industrial disputes, setting up
workshops, Vision and Mission communication setup etc.
7) IT: IT is backbone of today’s supply chain of all the companies and provides a competitive edge.
It offers profile in two areas, IT Infrastructure and IT Applications. IT infrastructure is related to
managing servers’ procurement, maintenance, backup revamping etc. IT Applications requires a
thorough understanding of supply chain concepts and its mapping with company requirements.
E.g. Implementation of ERP system, Extending ERP to ERP‐II level, customizing applications,
Designing interface between collaborating organizations.