Operation and Supply Chain Management

Question: Discuss about the Operation and Supply Chain Management. Answer: Introduction The Emaar Mall group in Dubai is the largest shopping and entertainment destination. It recognizes that inefficiency in the supply chain because of a growing burden on the manufacturing and the distribution process of the organization. The distribution process of the organization is one of the integral operational processes in the organization. The distribution process in the supply chain is facing unprecedented changes has been causing challenges for the organization. A proper organization featuring that centralizes the hub ensures successful distribution and supply chain management (Aslam, Azam and Jun 2013). This is obtained with the support of the satellite chain distributor. The study highlights on the distribution process of the organization which is the main concern of the company due to its ineffectiveness. In order to understand the loopholes of the organization, the As-Is process is discussed along with the quantitative assessment of the productivity. Furthermore, recommendations are made to increase the efficiency of the distribution process and the overall supply chain. Operational process The distribution process of the Emaar Mall group involves the delivering of the goods and services of the organization to the customers effectively. In the distribution process, it is important for the managers understand the way in which the organization needs to deliver the products and the services to the customers to be successful. However, Christopher (2016) mentioned that the different products of the organization need different distribution methods of operations. The various activities considered by the Emaar Mall group in the distribution process are direct sales, indirect sales or retailing, wholesaling and multi-level marketing. In order to attract more customers and gain a competitive advantage, the organization uses the combination of all the activities within the organization (Magrill 2013). The organization follows the indirect sales in the distribution that includes the selling of the goods and services from the third party. The company has partnered or affiliate rather than the personnel of the company. The retailing process of Emaar Malls includes selling consumer goods or services to customers through multiple channels of distribution to earn a profit. The workflow of the retailing operational process includes purchasing duties for the specific outlets, handling the inventory duties, maintaining proper customer service as it holds the entire workflow together and analyzing the report of the individual retail outlets. As-Is process The As-Is is an effective technique that helps to transform the vision of the organization into strategic outcomes. The process describes the current state of the organizational process, culture and the capabilities (Chen 2014). The As-Is business process includes all the sections in the business, the list of roles and steps and the exceptions of the organization. The process capability compares the output of the distribution process to the specified limits (Mallen 2013). The company aims to supply 1000 units of supply per month to the market of UAE. The distribution process further includes different activities which are divided into inbound and outbound activities. The time cycle for each activity per month is as follows: Inbound activities Time taken Material planning and control 5 days Purchasing 3 days Receiving 2 days Physical management 3 days Material handling 2 days Outbound activities Order processing 3 days Warehousing and storage 2 days Finished goods management 4 days Material handling and packaging 3 days Shipping 3 days Transportation 3 days Quantitative assessment of productivity level as per input and output The quantitative assessment of the productivity level as per the input and output of the company is as follows: Input 100000 in units Process-storage 5000 in units Output 95000 in units Number of units sold 60000 in units Closing stock 35000 in units Quantitative assessment of productivity level as per appraising the level of efficiency The value-added effectiveness helps the organization to increase the productivity level to the certain extent. The value added effectiveness in the supply chain of the organization refers to the increase in the productivity of the distribution channel, better knowledge about the market, better packaging, and material handling through employee training. Thus, it can be inferred that three units increase in the efficiency level will help the organization to achieve 1 unit of additional productivity. Analyzing the root cause problem using economic transformation The major issues that the organization faces in the distribution process of the supply chain are the collaboration with the channel partners. As opined by Stadtler (2015), the managers are responsible for choosing the appropriate partners, training and developing the partners, monitor their performance against the target audience or market to analyze the profits earned. However, the managers of the Emaar Mall group are incapable of carrying out these activities effectively and therefore disturb the overall process. The problem further occurs in the organization as the channel partner has inadequate information about the product and the market (Tayur, Ganeshan and Magazine 2012). It has been observed that the channel partners of the company offer poor service to the customers such as incorrect billing or delays in dealing with customer reviews, late deliveries, and customer satisfaction. Thus, the reputation of the organization is affected to a large extent. Process improvement In order to increase the efficiency and remain sustainable in the market, it is important for an Emaar Mall group to adopt effective strategies into the organization. It is important for the company to determine the supplier's process capabilities. This can be effectively carried out by identifying the innovation partners. Furthermore, the supply and the distribution base for the company need to be segmented. Monczka et al. (2015) mentioned that establishing supply chain metrics are important as they allow timely insights that support in reacting effectively to the opportunities present in the market. The information needs to be managed rather than managing the information management department of the organization. Integrating the sales, operation and the financing of the Emaar Mall group helps to improve the distribution process of the supply chain. Conclusion The overall supply chain is a combination of some operational activities that together help the organization reach the goods to the customers. Thus, an issue with any one of the activities affects the overall supply chain of the organization. The Emaar Mall group understands that the distribution process of the organization does not suit the modern needs of the market and thus has been hampering the customer satisfaction level and profitability. The As-Is process has been used to understand the current loopholes of the organization. The strategies such as determining the supplier's process capabilities, segmenting the supplier base, establishing supply chain metrics helps the organization to improve their distribution process and thereby the overall supply chain of Emaar Mall group. References Aslam, M., Azam, M. and Jun, C.H., 2013. Multiple dependent state sampling plan based on process capability index.Journal of Testing and Evaluation,41(2), pp.1-7. Chen, H.L., 2014. The Application of Statistical Process Control in the Simulation Experiment of Distribution Process Capability Analysis.International Journal of Information Processing and Management,5(4), p.106. Christopher, M., 2016.Logistics supply chain management. Pearson Higher Ed. Magrill, L., 2013. The development of an analogous channel model.International Journal of Physical Distribution Logistics Management. Mallen, B., 2013. Selecting channels of distribution: a multi?stage process.International Journal of Physical Distribution Logistics Management. Monczka, R.M., Handfield, R.B., Giunipero, L.C. and Patterson, J.L., 2015.Purchasing and supply chain management. Cengage Learning. Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. InSupply chain management and advanced planning(pp. 3-28). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Tayur, S., Ganeshan, R. and Magazine, M. eds., 2012.Quantitative models for supply chain management(Vol. 17). Springer Science Business Media.