Supply Chain Audit – do all components optimally interconnect?
In this blog post we present our Supply Chain Audit. Many people equate a supply chain audit with a supplier audit. We don’t do this and are pleased to explain why: The approach of supply chain management refers to the holistic, process-oriented controlled procedure for fulfilling a customer order. Beginning with the customer’s incoming orders, through procurement, possible production, up to the delivery of the final product to the customer with all necessary activities and intermediate steps. This bridges the functional organizational structure that prevails in most companies, where conflicts of objectives are pre-programmed by departmental thinking.
In our supply chain audit it is important to us to first look at your structures and processes in the company. A possible result of the analysis may be that an optimization of the supplier management or the planning processes in your company should be aimed at as a recommendation.
Starting points from the Supply Chain Audit
There are many reasons why a supply chain audit is worthwhile, and companies benefit from it in the long term, for example through risk reduction, brand added value or the creation of competitive advantages.
At the beginning of the analysis, a process mapping is carried out to determine the initial situation. Here the overall context of the supply chain processes is documented, as well as the tools, information and communication technologies used. The mapping serves as a basis for subsequently analyzing the entire process or sub-processes and deriving improvement measures.
In the subsequent steps of the supply chain audit, the content areas of distribution, production, R&D, supply, planning and communication are examined in detail and examined for optimization approaches.
Sustainability as an important aspect of the audit
In addition, sustainability and social issues are becoming more and more important across all sectors if we are to succeed in global trade at all. The customer is already sensitized to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Health Safety Environment (HSE), Bio, fair trade and the use of biodegradable packaging materials or Social Plastic. And those who treat their employees fairly generally achieve higher quality.
Even if you have aligned your own supply chain with sustainability: How well you use this information and how well you are really informed about the situation of your suppliers can be found out with our Supply Chain Audit. In this way, our experienced consultants and supply chain experts ensure the necessary transparency to create appropriate concepts individually for you and implement them together with you.
Rainer den Ouden
Partner, ADCONIA GmbH
Sinja Krauskopf
Consultant, ADCONIA GmbH