By Iddi Yire, GNA
Accra, Dec 06, GNA – The Second Supply Chain Conference 2019 has been held in Accra on the theme “A Resilient Supply Chain in a Competitive Global Market: The Role of a Practitioner”.
A day’s conference, organised by the Supply Chain Connect (SCC) brought together a broad spectrum of supply chain experts, academics, vendors and senior-level executives, aimed at updating the knowledge and skills of Supply Chain Practitioners.
Supply chain management is the management of the flow of goods and services and include; all processes that transform raw materials into final products.
It involves the active streamlining of a business's supply-side activities to maximise customer value and gain a competitive advantage in the market place.
Mr Ebo Hammond, President, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CLIT) Ghana and Chairman of the Supply Chain Conference 2019, said Supply Chain Practitioners in this modern time were faced with numerous challenges such as dependency on few suppliers in some products to numerous suppliers in others, inability to react quickly to uncertainties, global supply chain uncertainties from climate change and social upheavals, among other constraints.
“It is imperative that practitioners adopt different strategies to manage these risks and vulnerable factors to minimise costs and to ensure profitability of their business.
“To ensure supply chain resilience, practitioners must exhibit a strong understanding of the nature of their markets and value chain, have a good appreciation of the supply ecosystem, use it to build an effective market intelligence, which may be utilised to design and build a robust supply chain.”
Mr Hammond noted that to manage and maintain a resilient supply chain, practitioners must help build agile supply chains in their operations (strategic and operational) and form strong networks and collaboration.
He said even though more often, organisations were fixated on competition and outsmarting one another in the supply chain, the breakup of the chain of supply might have systematic impact on all players in the chain.
He said building and maintaining a resilient supply chain might require organisations in supply streams to move from competition to cooperation, from inward orientation to outward orientation and from management of finances to management of companies.
Madam Birago Amofa, Supply Chain Manager, SCC, said at SCC, their credo was to connect, learn and inspire one another.
“From the waakye you had for breakfast yesterday, to the phones we whatsApp with by the minute, to the fuel in our cars or even the chairs we are sitting on now, everyone of us has a touch point with Supply Chain on daily basis,” she stated.
“It is the profession that ensures that goods and services are available - and that at the right place, at the right time, in the right condition and at the right price.”
Mr Farouk Sai, Supply Chain Director, Coca Cola Bottling Company of Ghana, urged Supply Chain Practitioners to guard against corruption.
Mr Farouk in his presentation dubbed “A Resilient Supply Chain in a Competitive Global Market”, cautioned Supply Chain Practitioners against allowing products/goods to expire in warehouses.
He urged them to ensure that warehouses were well equipped with closed circuit television (CCT) cameras, which according to him would go a long way to help curb the phenomenon of thefts in warehouses.
He advised those in leadership portfolios to find capable and trustworthy men/women and mentored them; so that they would leave behind a lasting legacy of succession.
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