Supply Chain Management (SCM for short) is the handling of the flow of goods and services from the raw manufacturing of the product through to the consumption by the consumer.
Good supply chain management is critical at reducing operating costs from Procurement activities, through operations and logistics functions and throughout the whole supply chain.
What Are the Components of Supply Chain Management?
Demand Forecasting/Inventory Management
Managing inventory and manufacturing schedules to meet consumer demand.
This requires enough historical sales data so that a predictive demand model can be created
In the absence of sufficient historical data, basic assumptions of demand based on the purchasing behavior of the customer segment you are trying to satisfy may allow you to very broadly predict the level of initial inventory required to get you started
Sourcing
Identifying, evaluating, and building relationships with suppliers that will provide goods and services
Generating Purchase Orders (POs) to the suppliers to request manufacturing and buy sufficient inventory to satisfy demand without undue out-of-stock conditions
Production
Ensuring the right volumes and quality of inventory is produced
Estimating the lead time required to produce the ordered inventory
Transportation & Warehousing
Transporting the product from the point of manufacture to the point of sale, or as close as possible to it
Storing and delivering the product effectively.
Return of Goods – Ensuring an effective returns process for customer satisfaction.
The SellerLegend Supply Chain Management Features
SellerLegend will keep track of the necessary information to facilitate a smooth flow between the different stages of the supply chain management
SellerLegend will create, store, and manage the necessary information at every step. To that end, SellerLegend collects the following types of data
SCM Data Repositories
Suppliers
You can create and maintain as many suppliers as you may need
Many suppliers can offer the same product. You can keep track of which suppliers offer a specific product.
Many products can be offered by one supplier. You can keep track of all products offered by a specific supplier.
A supplier may supply goods from different locations. You can keep track of multiple addresses per supplier.
You can keep a chronologically ordered, unlimited number of supplier notes, timestamped and assigned to the individual who originated the note
Warehouses
You can define as many external 3PL warehouses as you may need
A warehouse can be any facility where you can store goods, including your garage or your mother’s kitchen
You can record an initial inventory quantity that already exists at the facility, or you can ship an initial inventory from any supplier to any 3PL/local facility.
You can record and order inter-warehouse inventory transfers
You can record inventory adjustments to account for the loss, damage, or any type of event having a material impact on quantities held in 3PL/local facilities
You can produce product inventory movement audit trails to account for any increase/decrease in inventory quantities
Products
You can maintain a record of all the physical characteristics of your products
You can assign/unassign products to Suppliers
You can assign/unassign Products to Warehouses
Assignment/unassignment of products can be done one-by-one through the online UI or in bulk, via an Excel spreadsheet
You can view all Warehouses that hold a specific product as well as their product inventory levels
Inventory
Inventory levels are maintained at the SKU level and automatically decrease with sales, manual fulfillment orders, removal orders, or negative adjustments. Inventory levels increase when receiving inventory shipments from suppliers/3PL warehouses or positive adjustments.
Inventory demand estimates can be calculated through various sales velocities over any period of time.
Velocities can be optionally adjusted to account for Out-of-stock periods, inactive product periods, unlisted product periods.
Demand calculations take into consideration marketplace lead times, product lead times as well as supplier lead times.
Furthermore, demand also includes Safety Stock and Reorder Point calculations.
We intend to deploy an AI-based demand forecasting algorithm using Amazon Forecast (https://aws.amazon.com/forecast/)
Inventory levels are reviewed every 8 hours and a fresh demand forecast is generated 3 times a day
Purchase Orders/Transfer Orders
You are able to generate detailed purchase orders for your suppliers which can be automatically sent via email. Alternatively, you can download a PO manifest in PDF format.
Purchase orders can be customized to include your company logo
Each product in the PO optionally shows the supplier SKU and the supplier product title
Transfer orders between 3PL/Local warehouses can also be produced to assist in picking, packing, and shipping between warehouses
You can see all POs attached to a Supplier
You can see all POs attached to a Warehouse
You can express a PO in any currency you see fit. SellerLegend will perform the appropriate currency conversion if required.
You can tag any number of time-stamped notes to any particular product in the PO, as well as any number of notes at the PO level
Shipments
Confirmed Purchase Orders which are destined to FBA generate the automated production of Amazon SellerCentral Shipping Plans
Agreement to shipping costs and Payment details of the shipping plan is done manually through SellerCentral
The supplier is automatically informed as to which fulfillment centers to send the goods to
Once the shipping plan is completed you are able to track receipt of inbound shipments related to the plan you have generated through SL, or any plan not generated through SL
Currencies
You can record the currency details of the purchase order, and SL will perform the necessary currency conversion to your preferred bookkeeping currency.
