SCM Technologies And Their Applicability In

The SC Operations

Aiswarya C.Y.

School Of Management Studies

CUSAT, Kochi- 22.
E-mail:aiswaryacy@gmail.com

Abstract: In commerce, supply chain management (SCM) is the

management of the flow of goods and services, involves the movement and
storage of raw materials, of work-in-process inventory, and of finished goods
from point of origin to point of consumption. Interconnected or interlinked
networks, channels and node businesses combine in the provision of products
and services required by end customers in a supply chain. Supply-chain
management has been defined as the "design, planning, execution, control, and
monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value,
building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics,
synchronizing supply with demand and measuring performance globally." SCM
practice draws heavily from the areas of industrial engineering, systems
engineering, operations management, logistics, procurement, information
technology, and marketing and strives for an integrated approach. Marketing
channels play an important role in supply chain management. Current research
in supply chain management is concerned with topics related to sustainability
and risk management, among others. Some suggest that the “people dimension”
of SCM, ethical issues, internal integration, transparency/visibility, and human
capital/talent management are topics that have, so far, been underrepresented
on the research agenda.

Keywords: Internal integration, scm

1.0 INTRODUCTION
General Information

Supply chain management is a cross-functional approach that includes managing

the movement of raw materials into an organization, certain aspects of the
internal processing of materials into finished goods, and the movement of
finished goods out of the organization and toward the end consumer. As
organizations strive to focus on core competencies and become more flexible,
they reduce their ownership of raw materials sources and distribution channels.
 These functions are increasingly being outsourced to other firms that can perform
the activities better or more cost effectively. The effect is to increase the number
of organizations involved in satisfying customer demand, while reducing
managerial control of daily logistics operations. Less control and more supply
chain partners lead to the creation of the concept of supply chain management.
The purpose of supply chain management is to improve trust and collaboration
among supply chain partners thus improving inventory visibility and the velocity
of inventory movement.

2.0 SC TECHNOLOGIES AND ITS APPLICABILITY

.
2.1 Advanced Weighing Technology

One of the greatest encumbrances in the supply chain is in the weighing process.
Outdated truck scales are still used in most industrial facilities which greatly
compromise efficiency. Luckily, modern technology includes the ingenious
onboard truck scales. These allow for seamless operations when access to
platform scales is not available. The scales measure payload weight and the
truck’s gross weight. They enhance productivity by ensuring a truck carries the
maximum weight right from the point of loading while also saving time and
money. The onboard truck scales have also been adopted as a safety guarantee
to ensure operators within a warehouse for instance only carry the allowed
weight on their lifts. The weighing process is one of the most significant
hurdles in the supply chain managem ent. Most industrial facilities still
resort to outdated truck scales, which dramatically compromises the
efficiency. Innovative technologies like the ingenious o nboard truck
scales facilitate seamless operations when access to platform scales
is not available. The scales are used to measure payload weight and
the truck’s gross weight. They ensure that a truck carries the
maximum weight right from the point of load ing while simultaneously
saving time and money.

2.2 Social Media Revolution

In today’s time social media is the ultimate power. It is a staircase to success.

Every single person on the Earth knows the power of social media and the role it
plays in revolutionizing any business or industry.

There are 1.3 billion monthly active users (MAU) of Facebook. There are many
other social media platforms like Twitter, et al that have millions of active users.
Increasing the visibility of the company on social media is user to bring success
to any industry.

SCO consultant considers social media as an important part of supply chain.

The consultants see social media as the best way to stay in touch with the
 stakeholders that are a part of supply chain. Social media also opens many new
opportunities and channels for the industry.
With such numbers, it makes more sense for modern businesses to leverage the
power of social media to optimize their supply chain operations. It is an ingenious
way to open more channels and remain in touch in real-time with all stakeholders
in the supply chain. It is easy to respond to questions, report in real-time about
incidences in the supply chain, report price changes, and also enhance visibility
of the company.

2.3 EDI

Electronic Data Interchange is an inter-organisation computer to computer

exchange of standard business documents in a structured and machine-process
able format with the objective to eliminate duplicate data entry and to improve the
speed and accuracy of the information flow. EDI based system has a significant
advantage over the manual paper based system in terms of built-in delay due to
several processing points during transit, data in accuracy or error due to
repeated data entry at several steps, labour intensive uncertainty about delivery
of information along with high costs of transmission.

Advantages of EDI are:

 Improved operational efficiencies of manually intensive business processes by

automating business document input, validation and auditing. The sophisticated
auditprovides a simple view of business information across different systems,
and it proactivealerts help you manage exceptions so you can respond
immediately to unplanned events.
 Improved Customer Service by providing internal and external business
partners with “status” information on business information flows inside and
outside an organization.
 Improved business responsiveness through greater visibility and adaptability
to changing business requirements. New business partners, platforms, document
formats,technologies and business processes can be added quickly and
efficiently whilemaintaining centralize control.
 Improved reaction time to supply chain issues. As 80% of a businesses
document information flow now relies on electronic transfer of information, any
loss of information flow is unacceptable for clients, suppliers, or trading partners
(both internal and external).To maximize ROI, proactive and intelligent
surveillance of business document transfer is critical. Receiving an alert at the
end of a day is not longer acceptable as receiving information when problems
occur along with how to solve the problem is required. Notified of a problem, a
user can rapidly identify the root cause and correct it by operations such as:
correcting incorrect information, retrying the transfer, cancelling the transfer,
executing an alert to the appropriate person(s) – by e-mail for example – of the
risk of client-impact from a problem in the supply chain.
 Compliance to regulatory requirements. For reporting companies, regulatory
requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA are a fact of life. EDI’s
 sophisticatedaudit and document management features allows an organization to
comply with regulatory requirements in one central solution.
In summary, EDI provides management, automation, format transformation,
information routing and business process management with the purpose of
streamlining business to meet the needs of an organization. EDI manages the
flow of business information from end to end, ensuring higher processing speeds,
improved reactivity, and higher quality of service.

2.4 Agile Supply Chain Management

Agile methodology ensures success.The supply chain has to be agile, flexible as

well as interactive. Agile supply chain management is all about coping with the
minute and intense turbulences in the supply chain by quick decision making.
This management approach has the capability of taking the company to a great
success high. Dealing with an unplanned situation is what agile supply chain
management stands for.

All the technologies, strategies and methodologies mentioned above are getting
many takers in supply chain. These innovations enhance the supply chain by
leaps and bounds.

At Gazelle we are try to utilize these technologies to bring in significant

improvements to clients supply chain processes. Come to talk to us to
understand how you can leverage these new trends to improve your supply chain
initiatives.

2.5 Cloud Computing

Cloud computing supplies computational resources on demand via a computer

network. Traditional computing models require both data and software to be fully
contained on the user's computer. In cloud computing, the user's computer may
contain almost no software or data (only an operating system and a web
browser). The provider's cloud computing services form the cloud. These
services are provided via an Internet connection within one or more of the next
layers: application, platform and infrastructure.

• Application services (SaaS- Software as a Service) deliver software as a

service over the Internet to the client who doesn’t need to install and run the
application on his own computers. All the software management, update,
maintenance and support are executed centralized, only on the provider’s
computers. The software allows collaboration through the network with business
partners due to its model – single instance, multi-tenant architecture.
• Platform as a Service provides a computing platform comprise hardware
architecture and software framework to support the software.
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides computer infrastructure as a service:
servers with multi-core processors, software, data-center space or network
equipment.
 Companies can use one or combinations of these services and they pay
according to the pay for what- you-use model, achieving significant cost
reductions. The service provider will deal with investment in licenses,
infrastructure maintenance and upgrades. Software implementation is simple,
with minimal technical requirements and easy management. Cloud computing is
an innovative business model which ensures an efficient outsourcing for Supply
Chain collaboration software and infrastructure.
SCM business processes are parallel and data are managed by each company’s
integrated information system. In order to extend these internal systems to SC
level, companies have to connect them through networks. Cloud computing
enables the networking of multiple and interdependent end-to-end processes
(order fulfilment, collaborative forecasting and replenishment, market analysis). It
supplies a collaborative framework allowing an effective process management
through standardized processes. SaaS provides a high level of security, so that
companies are able to share information without trust limitations. This creates
visibility for each Supply Chain member for the entire network o that to support
the decisional process

2.6 RFID Technology

Automatic identification, or auto ID for short, is the broad term given to a host of
technologies that are used to help machines identify objects. Auto identification is
often coupled with automatic data capture. That is, companies want to identify
items, capture information about them and somehow get the data into a
computer without having employees type it in. The aim of most auto-ID systems
is to increase efficiency, reduce data entry errors, and free up staff to perform
more value-added functions, such as providing customer service. There are a
host of technologies that fall under the auto-ID umbrella. These include bar
codes, smart cards, voice recognition, some biometric technologies (retinal
scans, for instance), optical character recognition, and radio frequency
identification (RFID).The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Evaluation
Centre covers criteria for tags and storage devices, readers, wireless hubs and
servers, and the middleware necessary for evaluating an RFID system
deployment. RFID systems are used in different situations that require the
tracking of unique items. RFID tags, in the context of enterprise resource
planning and supply chain management, make items visible from manufacturing
through distribution. RFID tags may be used to carry basic information such as
an address, to more complex information used at different stages of an assembly
line. In general terms, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a means of
identifying a person or object using a radio frequency transmission, typically 125
kHz, 13.56 MHz or 800-900MHz. There are several methods of identification, but
the most common is to store a serial number that identifies a person or object,
and perhaps other information, on a microchip that is attached to an antenna (the
chip and the antenna together are called an RFID transponder or an RFID tag).
 Fig 1. RFID system

An RFID tag consists of a microchip attached to an antenna. RFID tags are

developed using a frequency according to the needs of the system including read
range and the environment in which the tag will be read. Tags are either active
(integrating a battery) or passive (having no battery). Passive tags derive the
power to operate from the field generated by the reader. An FID reader, usually
connected to a Personal Computer, serves the same purpose as a barcode
scanner. It can also be battery-powered to allow mobile transactions with RFID
tags. The RFID reader handles the communication between the Information
System and the RFID tag. An RFID antenna connected to the RFID reader can
be of various sizes and structures ,depending on the communication distance
required for a given system's performance. The antenna activates the RFID tag
and transfers data by emitting wireless pulses.

Advantages of using RFID

 Reduces Clerical Errors, Increase Data Quality. RFID gets the human out of
theloop where clerical errors are about eliminated in terms of inventory levels and
asset visibility.
 Improves Asset Visibility and Utilization. RFID can give you complete
situationalawareness. If you know where an asset is, you can use it.
 Increase Efficiency. No more point and scan labour-intensive tasks that
areassociated with bar codes. Also, people no longer need to be always looking
for stuff,nor do they have to do inventories by hand. This frees them up to do
their real job.
 Reduce Theft. Theft can be a significant cost to businesses. RFID can provide
nearreal-time and historical information to reduce and prevent theft of products.
By havingnear-real-time visibility of product, businesses can pin-point and
eliminate theft that occurs along the supply chain as well as in retail stores.
 Improve Customer Experience. RFID items enables businesses to further
integrateservice offerings, automate customer tasks, and anticipate customer
needs. RFID technology can be integrated with smart shopping carts, kiosks, and
Point-Of-Sale terminals to improve the customer’s shopping experience. RFID
tags enable businesses to up-sell and cross-sell other products and accessories
in real-time.
 Improves Decision-Making. RFID technology gives real-time information that
enablebetter decision-making as well as reduces the decision-making cycle.
Improved decision-making results in:
 Reduce Inventory. RFID technology improves inventory accuracy. This
enablesbusinesses to eliminate excess and missing inventory as well as reduce
losses and write downs. RFID technology enables physical inventory in stores
and warehouses to match what is in the system.
 Improve Forecasting and Planning. RFID enable businesses to gain visibility of
theentire supply chain to include supplier visibility, in transit visibility, and
customer visibility .With better and expanded current and historical information,
businesses can improve forecasting capabilities.
 Reduce Out-Of-Stock Conditions. Out of stock items cause missed sales, and
willeventually lead to lost customers. RFID tags enable businesses to prevent
out-of-stock conditions in warehouses and in retail stores. Businesses can get
near-real-time and better historical information to eliminate conditions that cause
out-of-stock conditions.

RFID technology proved to be the silent supervisor, monitoring and recording

details of product movement and alerting shipping personnel of errors. RFID tags
are now placed on pallets at the stretch wrap machine. In the outbound loading
area, each forklift is equipped with an RFID reader and a screen, which signals
the operator whether pallets for a particular order are included on the
accompanying Bill of Lading. During loading, the operator is immediately given
several warnings, including a flashing red screen and an audio alert if a pallet is
about to be placed on the wrong truck or if the number of pallets in the shipment
is incorrect.

2.7 Electronic Commerce and SCM Based on Internet/Intranet

Electronic commerce and the Internet are fundamentally changing the nature of
supply chains, and redefining how consumers learn about, select, purchase, and
use products and services .The result has been the emergence of new business-
to business supply chains that are consumer-focused rather than product-
focused. They also provide customized products and services.

E-commerce impacts supply chain management in a variety of keyways. These

include:

 Cost efficiency: E-commerce allows transportation companies of all sizes to

exchange cargo documents electronically over the Internet. E-commerce enables
 shippers, freight forwarders and trucking firms to streamline document handling
without the monetary and time investment required by the traditional document
delivery systems. By using e-commerce, companies can reduce costs, improve
data accuracy,
streamline business processes, accelerate business cycles, and enhance
customer service. Ocean carriers and their trading partners can exchange bill of
lading instructions, freight invoices, container status messages, motor carrier
shipment instructions, and other documents with increased accuracy and
efficiency by eliminating the need to re-key or reformat documents. The only
tools needed to take advantage of this solution are a personal computer and an
Internet browser.

 Changes in the distribution system: E-commerce will give businesses more

flexibility in managing the increasingly complex movement of products and
information between businesses, their suppliers and customers. E-commerce will
close the link between customers and distribution centres. Customers can
manage the increasingly complex movement of products and information through
the supply chain.

 Customer orientation: E-commerce is a vital link in the support of logistics and

transportation services for both internal and external customers. E-commerce will
helpcompanies deliver better services to their customers, accelerate the growth
of the e-commerce initiatives that are critical to their business, and lower their
operating costs. Using the Internet for e-commerce will allow customers to
access rate information, place delivery orders, track shipments and pay freight
bills.

o E-commerce makes it easier for customers to do business with companies:

Anything that simplifies the process of arranging transportation services will help
build companies'business and enhance shareholder value. By making more
information available about the commercial side of companies, businesses will
make their web site a place where customers will not only get detailed
information about the services the company offers, but also where they can
actually conduct business with the company.

Ultimately, web sites can provide a universal, self-service system for customers.
Shippers can order any service and access the information they need to conduct
business with transportation companies exclusively online. E-commerce
functions are taking companies a substantial step forward by providing
customers with a faster and easier way to do business with them.

 Shipment tracking: E-commerce will allow users to establish an account and

obtain real-time information about cargo shipments. They may also create and
submit bills of lading, place a cargo order, analyze charges, submit a freight
claim, and carry out many other functions. In addition, e-commerce allows
customers to track shipments down to the individual product and perform other
 supply chain management and decision support functions. The application uses
encryption technology to secure business transactions.

 Shipping notice: E-commerce can help automate the receiving process by

electronically transmitting a packing list ahead of the shipment. It also allows
companies to record the relevant details of each pallet, parcel, and item being
shipped.

 Freight auditing: This will ensure that each freight bill is efficiently reviewed for
accuracy .The result is a greatly reduced risk of overpayment, and the elimination
of countless hours of paperwork, or the need for a third-party auditing firm. By
intercepting duplicate billings and incorrect charges, a significant percent of
shipping costs will be recovered. In addition, carrier comparison and assignment
allows for instant access to a database containing the latest rates, discounts, and
allowances for most major carriers, thus eliminating the need for unwieldy charts
and tables.

 Shipping Documentation and Labeling:There will be less need for manual

intervention because standard bills of lading, shipping labels, and carrier
manifests will be automatically produced; this includes even the specialized
export documentation required for overseas shipments. Paperwork is significantly
reduced and the shipping department will therefore be more efficient.
 Online Shipping Inquiry: This gives instant shipping information access to
anyone in the company, from any location. Parcel shipments can be tracked and
proof of delivery quickly confirmed. A customer's transportation costs and
performance can be analysed , thus helping the customer negotiate rates and
improve service.
3.0 CONCLUSION

The adoptions of integration technologies to support the supply chain

management can be seen either as a way to provide efficiency savings, or as a
strategic response either driven by necessity or due to competitive pressure. It
provides benefits like standardised production, simplified supply chain process,
and automated process, upon the implementation of supplychain integration by
the case companies involved in the study. The Internet has had an enormous
impact on the personal and professional lives of businesspersons. On the
business side, the Internet has brought new life to existing technologies and
offered businesses the opportunity to engage in the world marketplace. The
harnessing of the Internet by business has enabled greater cooperation and
information exchange up and down the supply-chain. The Internet has enabled
businesses to improve the supply-chain by the way they manage inventory, place
orders, and communicate critical information with each other.