Supply Chain Information Management

Questions: 1.How IoT improves the efficiency in the supply chain? 2.Use an example of fresh food to explain how IoT helps improving fresh food supply chain? 3.Discuss GTP components and processes? Answers: Internet of Things 1. The Internet of Things include the types of the technologies that drives towards the adoption of the high personalized smart consumer lifestyle. It includes the supply chain management where the IoT impacts the business as well as disrupt the logistics. ERP and supply chain management (SCM) includes the IoT revolution that allows the enhancement of the solution with an intelligent connection to the people, process, data and the things. The supply chain is impacted mainly by IoT with the in-transit visibility, where the products are handled and transferred in between the manufacturers, suppliers as well as the other forms of the distribution centers. (Gunasekaran et al., 2016). The nodes of the supply chain call for the agile supply network with regards to the product whereabouts as well as the other specifications. The in-transit visibility is mainly for the cloud based GPS with Radio Frequency Identification technology (RFID) technology. It provides the identity, location, and tr acking of information. The data gathered from the technologies includes the detailed visibility of the items which also provides the way mainly from the manufacturer to the retailer. The data is gathered from the GPS, and the RFID technology does not allow for any supply chain to automate the process of shipping. (Majeed et al., 2017). Hence, one needs to monitor the important details like the control of the temperature that has a significant impact on the product. IoT has been able to provide the supply chain professionals through: Reduced loss of the assets, with the product issues for finding the solution. The saving of the costs of the fuel along with optimizing the fleet routes to monitor the conditions of the traffic. The assurance of the stability of the temperature and to monitor the cold chain as per the Food and Agricultural Organisation of UN. The management of the stock for the warehouse (Ramundo et al., 2016). A proper gain of the user insights will help in embedding the sensors along with providing better visibility for the customer as well as the usage of the product. The creation of the fleet efficiencies helps in reducing the redundancies as well. For example, the information provided for the traffic jam as well as the delay is of great importance rather than getting stuck in the traffic, at the time of traveling. With this context, there is a need to focus on enhancement of the supply chain management by using IoT. The IoT Supply chain involves the multiple touch points, where the manufacturers, suppliers, customers need a proper visibility, and access to the accurate information. The IoT will help in improving the product visibility with the supply chain management to see the data for the packages, equipment for the materials, vehicles and the warehouses from the different devices like the GPS and the RFID readers. (Ramundo et al., 2016).The technologies are strengthened where the sensors are strongly informed for the supply networks which are also able to predict, correct and prevent the problems like the inventory outages, or the failure of the equipment, poor conditions of the environment or any other safety hazards. 2. The consumers expect that the restaurants and the grocery stores can deliver fresh food. Hence, to bring an awakening for the food distributors, who ship the items like the meat, milk, fruits or vegetables, need to deal with IoT. IoT can easily help the companies to check and monitor the shipment of the food, thereby, reducing the spoilage of the food or the waste. Example, the farmers mainly depend on the seed manufacturing to deliver the quality seed so that there is maximized harvest action. (Voss et al., 2017). The supply chain managers can easily track through the devices for the temperature of the seed container as well as the humidity. The IoT app can easily alert the delivery driver for any unsealed container. With the IoT technology, the sensors are also necessary for the farms to make sure that they are getting the proper temperature and the moisture, important for the crop growth. IoT can help in improving the food industry management with its supply chain. (Paksoy et a l., 2016). The farms, food distributors, grocery stores (selling the milk, meat, etc.,) and the restaurant now have the solution to track and monitor the cargo from farm to the fork. With the more progressive globalization of the food supply chains, there is a covering of the greater distances and involvement of the suppliers, with exposure of the food products to the different risks factors. Hence, for this, the IoT-based food supply chains help in providing a better service with the smart insights to ensure the product quality from farm to the fort. The sensing technology and the data analytics helps in monitoring the condition of the product, mainly due to the network-connected smart sensors. (Rezaei et al., 2017). The goods-on-transit with the maintenance of the temperature and humidity in the shipping container or the truck is given for a particular moment. The network has been set with the perishable goods like the meat, fish, dairy, or the fresh products. The real-time cargo helps in monitoring the network, and the data can easily assist in avoiding the spoilage with offering all the essential actions for the manufacturers with certain alerts of safety as and when the goods condition deviates from the identified parameters. (Ramundo et al., 2016). The improved forms of the supply chain visible will lead to the reduction in the waste of food and prolonged life of the products. The food manufacturers can also get a significant benefit from the reduced inventory costs as well as work on the capital management that can cut down the inventory levels without any risk. 3. GTP systems Goods-to-person means that the order picker in the warehouse can stay at a particular place and the system can bring the goods or stock keeping units (SKU) to a person. It includes the forms where the SKU is picked and then it is reverted to the actual location of the storage. (Christopher et al., 2016). The components that include in this are: The storage medium which is necessary for the inventory of the product. The methods which are depending upon the technology along with bringing the SKU for the picking from the station. The workstation of the ergonomics as well as the software to control and handle the flow of the SKU. For this, there are ways in which the processing of the order could easily be fulfilled. SKU works on the order container as well as the other forms of the multiple orders. Variations are depending upon the configurations and the designs that offer benefits. (Richards et al., 2016). The processes that it includes are: The elimination of the travel time of the picker where the orders do not have to walk in the warehouse. This will also reduce the time of travel with the improvement in the productivity as well as the cost of labor work will reduce per hour, automatically. The reduction in the footprint of the system includes the designs which are less than any other conventional form. The typical types of the footprint range from 30-50% which is less than the conventional order fulfillment center. (Richards et al., 2016). The security of the product with the automated system is secure that is also not accessible to the staff as well. The ergonomic workstations are for the picking the products and give comfort to the employee as well. The accuracy and the de-coupling of the workstations work with the order picking where the operators are also able to handle the SKU at a time, along with working in the parallel form that is unaffected. The workstations are also highly utilized where the flow of work is mainly in the pickup stations. The order pickers are using it without any wait. (Coyle et al., 2016). A precise sequencing helps in building the customer order where the SKU could easily be achieved. For this, the items need to be presented for the order by weight. Apparel distribution is a challenge. Discuss how GTP can improve apparel distribution. Give an example of a Fashion company who is using GTP for apparel distribution and list its benefits for that company. GTP works on the distribution of the product in and around the different workstations, but the distribution with apparels is a challenge. The batch picked products are transported for sorting and consolidating the workstations. It is based on the light directed display where the SKU is also picked and then distributed for the different forms of the discretised orders. The apparel and the accessories retailer use the automated zone of the GTP system. (Richards et al., 2016). There are 20 order zones for the picking in the system. Hence, for 1000 stores, there is a need for 50 store positions of the carton. Hence, a particular operator works in the zone, which contains a single SKU. It is then removed from the storage and then routed for the picking zones. The carton of the SKU works on traveling on to the different zones where the order is stored. The automated versions help in picking 325 picks by the operator in an hour. TGW Fashion Company use this technique which focuses on the value for money. The supply chain of the fashion company is mainly to cope with the demands and relate to the increasing flexibility as well as the improved level of service. The results are primarily the brand multi-channel, fast fashion brand Omni-channel, and the value fashion brands. (Schonsleben, 2016). The benefits for this are: Secured dense storage that reduces the cost of the building and the land. The higher productivity also reduce the cost of the labor It helps in achieving and aiming for 500-1000 picks in an hour by the picker. The ergonomic picking helps in a sustainable productivity The picking is through the shipping containers that tends to reduce the packing labor as well. The improvement in the inventory as well as the accuracy in the order. TGW has been able to create a better demand for the supply chain operations with ensuring that the customer remains happy with minimized costs and the maximized profits. (Gilling et al., 2016). Hence, for this, the company is also working on providing the flexibility and the speed which facilitate the shorter leading time along with handling the different channels for the distribution. The benefits are based on the range of industries with sectors set to offer and implement the system efficiently. Conclusion and Recommendations The supply chain management is the best form of the movement and the storage of the raw materials. The companies are interlinked with the networks, channels and the nodes, for the different products and the services. (Afolayan et al., 2016). The SCM practice is based on the operations management, procurement, information technology and the marketing standards with long-term performance. The customer-focused strategies are based on creating customer satisfaction with end point delivery to the customers. References Naskar, Suvendu, Preetam Basu, and Anup K. Sen. "A Literature Review of the Emerging Field of IoT Using RFID and Its Applications in Supply Chain Management." InThe Internet of Things in the Modern Business Environment, pp. 1-27. IGI Global, 2017. Gunasekaran, Angappa, Nachiappan Subramanian, and Manoj Kumar Tiwari. "Information technology governance in Internet of Things supply chain networks."Industrial Management Data Systems116, no. 7 (2016). Majeed, Aabid Abdul, and Thashika D. Rupasinghe. "Internet of Things (IoT) Embedded Future Supply Chains for Industry 4.0: An Assessment from an ERP-based Fashion Apparel and Footwear Industry."International Journal of Supply Chain Management6, no. 1 (2017): 25-40. Ramundo, Lucia, Marco Taisch, and Sergio Terzi. "State of the art of technology in the food sector value chain towards the IoT." InResearch and Technologies for Society and Industry Leveraging a better tomorrow (RTSI), 2016 IEEE 2nd International Forum on, pp. 1-6. IEEE, 2016. Voss, Stefan, Hans-Jurgen Sebastian, and Julia Pahl. "Introduction to Intelligent Decision Support and Big Data for Logistics and Supply Chain Management Minitrack." (2017). Paksoy, Turan, ?smail KARAO?LAN, Hadi Gken, Panos M. Pardalos, and Belk?s TOR?UL. "An Experimental Research on Closed Loop Supply Chain Management with Internet of Things."Journal of Economics Bibliography3, no. 1S (2016): 1-20. Rezaei, Mahdi, Mohsen Akbarpour, and Behroz Karimi. "IoT-based framework for performance measurement: a real-time supply chain decision alignment."Industrial Management Data Systems117, no. 4 (2017). Christopher, Martin.Logistics supply chain management. Pearson UK, 2016. Gilling, Raymond I., and Jeffrey M. Ulmer. "Major Challenges in Supply Chain Management."Insights to a Changing World Journal2016, no. 3 (2016). Richards, Gwynne, and Susan Grinsted.The Logistics and Supply Chain Toolkit: Over 100 Tools and Guides for Supply Chain, Transport, Warehousing and Inventory Management. Kogan Page Publishers, 2016. Coyle, John J., C. John Langley, Robert A. Novack, and Brian Gibson.Supply chain management: a logistics perspective. Nelson Education, 2016. Schnsleben, Paul.Integral logistics management: operations and supply chain management within and across companies. CRC Press, 2016. Afolayan, Ademola, Gareth RT White, and Rachel Mason-Jones. "