PARTNERING PROVIDES HOLISTIC SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS
In the modern world, the current business climate places continued pressure on organisations to improve revenue, reduce operational costs, and maximise profitability, whilst maintaining or even improving service performance levels.
To achieve these demanding corporate objectives more and more companies are now turning to strategic supply chain management to help reposition their organisation for growth, rather than relying on the more traditional approaches of consolidation and product innovation as sources of new revenue. Extracting the maximum value of a product both at the front end and the tail end of its life cycle is straight forward and pragmatic.
Strategic supply chain management is an holistic approach to the life cycle management of all critical assets within an organisation, which seeks to maximise asset performance through dynamic persuasion of the supply chain to become more linear. The modern approach focuses on three priorities: operational efficiency balanced with flexibility and agility, end-to-end process optimisation, and customer retention; thus directly affecting corporate objectives.
In the quest to achieve these focussed objectives most organisations are happy to consider the outsourcing of warehousing, basic logistics, and transportation services to logistics service providers. Yet, they are generally reluctant to take the next logical step and outsource the more critical elements of the supply chain, to a supply chain solutions provider - believing that no real added value can be obtained. Perhaps, therefore, it is not well know that statistically, an average of 43% of the value of an asset is lost because of inefficiency in the supply chain.
It is true that no one company can directly provide all of the integrated services necessary to manage the end-to-end supply chain. However, through strategic partnering with both clients and logistics service providers, supply chain solutions providers can deliver end-to-end service solutions, tailored to the organisations needs, and demonstrate significant real added value to the client.
To these clients, the added value obtained through the outsourcing of their end-to-end supply chain is easily recognised:
- Minimised capital employed in the business through inventory optimisation, extending installed lifetimes, redeploying existing assets, and management of specialist facilities
- Reduced operation cost to the business through inventory and demand management, efficient repair cycles, and strategic stocking
- Maximised availability of assets through strategic inventory utilisation, rapid screening and repair, and efficient and effective logistics infrastructure
- Improved service performance through on-line real-time status information, tailored multi-level reporting, and full visibility of assets via tracking and monitoring
- Evolving solutions designed to meet changing business objectives and service performance levels during continuing growth phases
Through the development of a strategic partnering programme the integrated services of the combined organisations can offer innovative, bespoke, holistic strategic supply chain management solutions that link procurement, strategic stocking, inventory management, centralised screening and technical repair, demand management, stock level optimisation, reverse logistics, and full tracking and tracing of assets - providing total control of the complete inventory, in addition to traditional warehousing and transportation services.
These tailor made integrated supply chain solutions also include further complementary services that complete the life cycle management, including: installation and commissioning engineers, field maintenance engineers, and technical couriers that can be dynamically allocated and deployed, depending upon the technical level of the installation or field repair required. And when an asset reaches the end of its life, approaches to achieve a final return on non-strategic assets, through de-installation and resale in second user markets, or via a fully audited recycling/disposal service satisfying all of the requirements of modern environmental and legislative directives, can be provided.
Finally, in order to facilitate delivery of these integrated service solutions an eCommunity network linking suppliers, distributors, logistics providers, subsidiaries and clients, via the web is necessary. This provides the benefits of extending services beyond traditional company boundaries, streamlining operations through automated business processes, faster processing of business documentation, improved supplier relationships developed through partnering, cost effective messaging and alerting capabilities, and flexible stock management techniques.
Achieving this customer-centric, agility seeking, strategic supply chain management solution through integration of the critical elements of the total asset life cycle, ultimately maximises supply chain velocity, saving vast quantities of that most precious of commodities - time. And in the business world it is all too well understood that time and money are synonymous.
Even in light of these considerations, you may still not be considering the outsourcing of your strategic supply chain management as an additional revenue stream to augment your business, but make no mistake some of your competitors are!
"The benefits of partnering with a Supply Chain Service Provider to develop a Total Integrated Supply Chain Solution allows focus on core business while benefiting from reduced cost of sales, reduced time to market, flexibility and improved level of service to our customers" - Guy Saunders, International Supply Chain Manager, Cable & Wireless
"Through the development of a teaming programme with our strategic partners, TS Technology Services has been able to offer its client a comprehensive integrated supply chain management solution which is unique to the industry; providing our clients with added value from all aspects of the supply chain" - Kevin Scott-Cowell, Managing Director, TS Technology Services
TS Technology Services recently received an awarded for 'Best Business Services Company' at the Cable and Wireless Annual Global Vendor Event held in London.
TS Technology Services is a Tyco International company, which originally developed its strategic supply chain management capabilities within the telecommunications market. The company has now expanded it client portfolio, adding Space and Defence, Security, Information Technology, and Retail organisations to its impressive list of blue chip clients, The Company continues to grow, offering its service solutions to ever more diverse technology markets.
