Technology & Supply

Supply Chain & Technology:

The supply chain in a business

is very important, it lays out the path for the product and how it will get from the farmer who grows the raw material to the end user and everything in between such as the processer, the manufacture, wholesaler and retailers who sell it to the customer.

As with everything in life, problems can arise anywhere and for any reason. Problems in supply chain management can be massive as it deals with products & these products mean money. As Gordon Gekko said in Wall Street “CASH IS KING” and in business, products means money and money is cash. The hold up, loss or misplaced products along the supply chain can effect business is many ways which has an effect on the customer.

In order to reduce the chance of lost, misplaced or held up stock there has been solutions that businesses have been using and utilising to benefit both the business and the customer. Such solutions involve RFID chips and e-supply in order to assist with tracking the stock levels.

These RFID chips can do more then the average barcode can do in regards to tracing products. With the traditional bar code, it cannot be scanned unless it is in clear lines with the scanner that tracks its progress. If one piece of stock gets stuck behind another or which may cause a bottleneck in the processing plant that prepares stock for shipment to the retailer. With the RFID chips, this issue is solved as each chip can be scanned regardless of its position on the conveyor belt. This means that the likelihood of stock going missing is low which results in the chance of unhappy customers from not having their desired product is stock, will be low.

An example of businesses that uses such technology throughout the supply chain to view the products as they journey through each step of the process is for the benefit of the customer and the business are An Post, Marks & Spencer, Argos, FitBit and Disney.

Disneyland Florida, Orlando and Paris are top tourist attractions that see 40.3 million people through their gates for both day trips and holidays. Unlike businesses that offer products to the market, Disneyland offers a service in the experience, the carnival rides and eateries in the parks. Disneys supply chain, can be converted into one that offers a service. The head of Disney and their parks will grow and develop a plan, the line mangers will then feed that plan that relates to customers to the staff in the park and the park staff will deliver such to the park visitors. Such visits can then be monitored to analyse areas of strength & weakness for the business which can be improved upon.

Disneyland has introduced such RIFD tags to its customers called Magic Band. These tags can be worn like a bracelet when a group are booked in advance for a holiday in the park. These bracelets have their own tags that can beeped to allow people onto park rides and inform the restaurant staff where you are sitting when you arrive in the restaurant. This data will allow customers to have ease of mind about not having to remember physical paper tickets or paperwork to allow them onto rides and eases the workload for Disney staff who deal with members of the public who lose their tickets and have to solve the issue as the tickets may have restaurant bookings also attached to them.

Such information from the tags will allow Disney to analyse its busiest time of the day for the park, their rides and restaurants and in turn it may offer more to its visitors to reduce ques and waiting times at other areas, which can cause frustration amoung visitors. It can also track customers, where they are most spending their time, what they are finding the most attractive park ride and what they are spending money on in the park. It can also assist visitors who are planning to visit the park the best time of day to go by means of selecting the quiet times (although in a place like Disneyland, is there ever a quiet time?)

With technology becoming an evermore part of business and dealing with customers along with how businesses manage and control stock flow which in turn relates to cash, it is important that businesses do what is the best for them. The best for them that will be cost effective, useful by means of gathering data, having a chance of increasing sales and customer awareness while offering a benefit to the customer.