Introduction

Supply Chain Management is the management of the gradual flow of goods, services, and production, which include the movement and proper storage of raw materials, logistics, work-in-progress inventories, and finished goods or products. Sunningdale Tech Ltd is a manufacturer of audio equipment, steel moulds, and plastic injection products, among other equipments in Singapore. The purpose of this essay is to analyze as a supply chain manager of Sunningdale Tech Ltd, the effectiveness of the four key flows in supply chain management; the making process, and the supply chain forecasting and all relevant improvements according to the theories and concepts in supply chain management (Davis, 1993).

Sunningdale Tech Ltd is a manufacturing organization focused on building and selling mould and plastic injection products. The company was founded on the December 5, 1995, and the headquarters is located in Singapore. This is one of the leading producers of precision steel moulds in Singapore. They are responsible for designing, marketing, exporting, and managing manufactured technological products like car audio equipment, steel moulds, and plastic injection products; they render product design consultancy, mold flow services, selling of dies, tools, jigs, fixtures, and other plastic components, and project management. Their divisions are Healthcare, Automotive, Information Technology, and Mould Fabrication. Each segment produces a specific product or service; Automotive division mainly produces faceplates for audio systems and climate control, exterior antenna covers, steering switches, and speedometer equipments. The Healthcare division produces scoops, drug delivery, diagnostic devices, and caps. The Information or Consumer Technology division renders water filtration products, grooming products, and inkjet cartridges. The Mould Fabrication segment designs and manufactures various moulds that are also used for manufacturing of plastic injection parts. There are about 28 branches around the world, with over 872 employees. They are able to generate over 120 companies to supply products to on regular basis, in countries like USA, Malaysia, Mexico, and Latvia.

The Key Flows in Supply Chain

The manager of the supply chain is responsible for keeping track of the movement of products, information, cash, end-to-end flow of goods, and return of products. As a supply chain manager of Sunningdale Tech Ltd manufacturing company, there is a role to oversee and manage every stage of the production flow, from purchasing of raw materials to the delivery of the final product, timely production, as well as coordinate the storage of the product. Flow of products in the supply chain is the movement of goods from the organization to various customers across the world.

Sunningdale Tech Ltd work in a very effective production flow within the supply chain management process, this is done by demand planning and product planning, where a specific number of Sunningdale Tech Ltd products are produced within the various factories across many countries. The products are stored following a specified schedule of the organization and transported to larger warehouses of Sunningdale Tech Ltd Company as an inventory hold. The goods are carefully evaluated and transported to various warehouses of retailers of the company in different locations and then get to the various retail outlets of Sunningdale Tech Ltd, the products are then delivered to customers at various point of delivery.

Sunningdale Tech Ltd Company Information flow is very important in supply chain management because this information flow serves as the link between each stage in the supply chain management. There are effective IT technological tools that help enhance the information flow within the supply chain process (Li, et al. 2011). The use of computers and the internet help keep track of information and improve the performance of the organization

Sunningdale Tech Ltd Company cash flow relates to how payments are made based on timing and frequency of payments to suppliers and from customers, vice versa, invoicing steps for customers, how accounts are managed. The flow of cash perspective in supply chain management process can be specified into cost and investment expenses, and the fund or revenue from sales. The cost is the various expenses incurred and investment relates to the payment of various expenses incurred by the organization. Costs are incurred during the supply chain process and contribute to the profitability of the business and require settlement (Patnayakuni, et al. 2006).

As a supply chain manager, the reduction of cost and increasing revenue or fund are very important. Cash expenses are monies paid by Sunningdale Tech Ltd Company to keep the organization operating and revenue cash flow is the movement of monies from customers to the organization. To enable the company to gain profits, revenue must always be higher than the cost incurred. Payment are arranged according to organization’s plans, schedules, credits, and other financial arrangements to receiving cash from the public and in paying expenses of the business are gathered annually and recorded. There is a need to manage various financial flows of the organization.

Inverse flow is the return movement of goods from customers to the company and how the organization refund and collect these goods back into the company safely. Inverse flow of goods from customers or retailers made by receiving information related to any problem of the good to be checked and solved. The return flow passes from the customer to the vendor, then to the retailer, and shipped to the Company. After the correction is made, the product is sent back through the same process to the customer with a discount to enhance customer satisfaction.

(Pedrosoa & Nakanob, 2009)

The Make Process

The Sunningdale Tech Ltd Company have a specified production planning and make process for developing goods for the organization and manufacturing of the organization’s products. This ensures that all resources, investments, and raw materials are enough and accessible for producing goods and services in the organization. Activities involving measures taken as a supply chain manager in directing, regulating, and controlling various productions of the organization is arranged and rolled out accordingly.

The make process is a very important aspect in supply chain management and this requires gradual important steps in manufacturing goods and services in the organization. The success and wellbeing of the organization is linked to tallying the production level of the organization to the resources to produce these organizations. The resources should be enough to facilitate the production of goods and services for the organization successfully. Sunningdale Tech Ltd require appropriate allocation of resources including, workers, raw materials, production machines, product deliveries, transportation of goods to customers, and purchasing raw products from suppliers are done during production planning

The way taken by various products into the organization is arranged and designed to facilitate the movement of products from suppliers to the company. After identifying the routing process of goods, the execution is when customer’s orders are delivered to their locations successfully. This will help avoid frustration and delay in order execution, production that moves with a good plan always help in preventing customer disappointment and help to improve their satisfaction. Good production planning involves the production of the right goods, foreseeing the future, analyzing, and using potential manufacturing plans to achieve set goals. Allocation of resources is done by assigning team members the right task and machines to operate (Longo & Mirabelli, 2008).

Sunningdale Tech Ltd should have proper planning of technological material requirement to be able to analyze needed input resources, components and materials required to produce various products in the organization. The production planning schedule is a widely used system that helps in improving productivity of a given manufacturing organization (Håkan & Göran, 2004).

This planning schedule helps in advancing and improving the production performance of the organization. The manufacturing requirement planning uses information from expenses or cost of materials, production, and flow of goods to understand the needed inputs and various costs during the manufacturing process. Planning the arrangement of materials and other material components of the organization will help enhance the manufacturing success of the various products along with the quantity of the product, with appropriate determination of the right items to produce. The Company identifies the number of confirmed orders and production to make during operations.

As a supply chain manager, my duty is to ensure that the organization have access to needed materials and resources for production of products. There are several products required by customers from the organization, and with demand and order description, I will be able to check and allocate the right materials for production in the organization. Demand directly affects the quantity of goods to produce for customers in general. I will be able to setup a strategic planning system that will be able to track products and supply chain production in the organization.

(Håkan & Göran, 2004).

The Supply Chain Forecasting

Forecasting model in supply chain management relates with the upcoming events expected to take place in the market and production system in the future. This is just like predicting expected future of the organization in a qualitative or quantitative way. The supply chain forecasting methodology and models examine the future expectations and outcome of how demand and supply range will project, how the customer’s reaction towards a specific product will change, and the change in price level of goods in the market (Singh, et al. 2006). There are benefits the organization derives from supply chain forecasting, including helping to prepare for a new condition arising.

The supply chain forecasting will guide the Company know the right goods suppliers are willing to offer the organization, and how these goods will determine the performance of the Company, in order to take necessary measures immediately before becoming too late. Various evaluations are conducted on the market to provide a complete position of the organization in the near future. In forecasting, especially in supply chain management, factors like weather, technology, research, among others relate with the supply chain management of the organization. This describes how these factors will influence consumers demand and interest in each week, months and years (Helms, et al. 2000).

Price forecasting model is a description of supply and demand influence on prices of goods and services in the market. Situations such as a low income, bad road and weather conditions, and poor environmental conditions could lead to a reduction in the price of Sunningdale Tech Ltd products like precision steel moulds, car audio equipment, plastic products and tools, among others. The price forecasting model helps businesses to know when necessary to cut down prices or increase prices and this will help the Company to know when to maximize the price level of products and the time to reduce the price to fit well in the market at a given time (Gattorna & Jones, 1998).

Another model called demand forecasting model that allows organizations to keep the right number of stocks enough to satisfy all demands. The demand forecasting model will help the Company to utilize time, resources, and efforts properly to improving the production of goods at the right time. The demand forecasting model is very helpful in identifying the interest of the public and behavior of the market demands, including preference, trends, seasonal goods, personality, and behavior of the customers (Guanghui, 2012).

Opinion forecasting model is a qualitative forecasting model that describes how the opinions of experienced experts make meaningful analysis and projections into the future without statistical data and where there is no available data to be measured. This model uses an easy and quick method to anticipate future market trends and structure. The market research model is a qualitative forecasting module that uses market research and analysis to forecast future events. This can be done by staff, firm members, and the Company will have researchers to use research opinion poll, telephone, interviews, and questionnaires.

Various quantitative and qualitative model of forecasting relating to average moving model goods, economic model, opinion of experts, research model, and strategic model are classified based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the supply chain forecasting model. The moving average model uses the quantitative forecasting model to analyze data and understand data about the market prices, sales, demands, supplies, and many more. The econometric modeling is about how regression analysis and independent regression is measured to determine the influence of an economic variable to another and to understand the outcome of the analysis (Helms, et al. 2000).

(Rogelio & Watson, 2009)

Conclusion

Production across the various four key flows of supply chain management and how to serve as a supply chain manager of Sunningdale Tech Ltd is steep into the making process, and the supply chain forecasting in order to enhance the movement and production of products along the supply chain management process. The various flows of products along the supply chain management process like information flow, cash flow, product flow, and return of goods are major duties of the supply chain manager in order to ensure the positive operation of the business in the organization. Sunningdale Tech Ltd ensures that goods flow from one stage to the other till customers acquire their products and appreciate the product, and the supply chain manager also has to improve the relationship between customers and the organization through technical, brand, and research development. The supply chain manager also ensures that the right supply chain forecasting model such as the demand forecasting model or price forecasting model is used correctly. It is important that technological tools are encouraged and used to induce the positive performance of Sunningdale Tech Ltd supply chain management and maximize information and transactional management potential of the manufacturing company. This helps in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the business and supply chain management.

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