The concept of supply chain refers to all the steps that take part in the preparation and distribution of a product for sale. This process deals with coordinating and planning the different tasks to be fulfilled in order to search, obtain and transform different articles with the purpose of taking it to the market and reaching as many consumers as possible.
Steps in the supply chain
The supply chain is mainly made up of Suppliers, the warehouses, the line that is producing, the different channels through which it transits, the sale to wholesalers, the sale to retailers and until the last step where it reaches the hands of the end customer. The most common steps are as follows and in the following order:
- Raw Materials
- Production
- Transport and logistics
- Agencies or branches
- Storage
- For sale
- Billing
- Distribution
- Delivery
The supply chain should not always run in the same way. The method to be used will vary according to the type of company you work with. There are three types of companies, with its corresponding peculiarities:
- Industrial companies: being a high production, the logistics implemented for its supply chain is more complex, depending on the warehouses it has available, the line of products they make and the classification of the articles in the market.
- Service companies: your supply chain is shorter. They only deal with transporting the product to the end customer from the marketers.
- Trading companies: they should only receive and transport the item back to the points of commerce.
A common supply chain starts the process by conducting an in-depth analysis of the product distribution. It must affect the characteristics of the resources that nature provides essential for its manufacture. Then carry out an extraction of the raw material, manufacture, plan storage, distribution and finally end with the consumption of the article. An error in one of these steps would generate a chain effect that would alter the entire process.
Logistics companies