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Who should mastermind the end-to-end Supply Chain planning and execution?
Our objective of creating harmony amongst various supply chain partners can be fulfilled only if all supply chain actions are masterminded by a single entity. This should be done taking a systems view of the extended supply chain and using global optimisation rules instead of local optimisation.
Who should do it? The entity should have a reasonably good view of the end consumer demand as well as the capabilities of various partners in terms of their capacity, flexibility and responsiveness. In most systems, this should be done by the manufacturers who have a fairly good view of their vendors, customers, and support partners.
It is true that retailers have a much better view of the consumer demand than the manufacturers. An active collaboration between the manufacturers and retailers would help in getting this signal on an ongoing basis.
If manufacturers take this responsibility, as they should, they must take daily signals of consumer demand from retailers as input and provide daily signals to vendors, distributors, and transporters for execution. Companies following this practice avoid bullwhips and ensure a smooth flow of products.