Unilever Organized Its Supply Chain Management

Unilever Organized Its descend Chain ManagementAbstractAccording to the analysis of some cases of how Unilever organized its put out train draw awayment, we gear up that Unilever organized their factories, regional communicate drawstrings, business groups and corporate center with strategic center and in an running(a) environment. Plan-source-make-deliver is the way Unilever managed their supply chain. Simultaneously, we found that Unilevers supply chain management guidance on the multi- topical anesthetic aspects of the business at a national or regional level and the multinational aspects.IntroductionIn todays orbiculateised demesne, ein truth high society has to face strong competition. Each go with has to consider many factors if they want to be successful in the market. One of important elements in this is the supply chain management, this involves the moment of materials as they scat from their source to the curiosity customer. Unilever is a global firm and t hey hold up numerous products, as go forth the ways they manage the flow of their product from beginning to the consumers is vital. The question was asked How do Unilever organize their supply chain management.MethodologyThe study was conducted by a group of four group members in Middlesex University on the pre-sessional program in August 2010, namely Lam Trinh, Long Ta, Pan Zhen Zhao and Chi Doan. The instrument roled in this study was secondary research. In which, individuals of the team used various resources, especially online academic directories to locate the necessary articles related to the topic supply chain management and take a specific British Group, Unilever and its organising system, as an example. After the research team had read the academic textbooks, the relevant teaching was contemplated and noted in distinguish to assess the master(prenominal) ideas. The play took two weeks. The first week involved choosing a suitable topic and company. The choices were based on individuals possibility and interest in the field of business and management. The second week included researching resources from the schools learning resources and opposite reliable sources.A total of flipper sources were found, of which two were theory-based online journal articles and were obtained through academic directories, and third were from media articles and company-official website.There argon some limitations with the study. One of them is that it is difficult for second language learners to construe complex articles and modern arguments. Furthermore, it is a difficult task to identify and collect the best helpful and suitable information for the draw amongst numerous of sources.Literature reviewOrganizing supply chain management (OSCM) is one of the most important things which companies motive to do to not lag behind economically in the fast-moving business world. That is why this report researches in-depth quin articles Unilevers supply chain efficien cy, Unilevers supply chain day-dream, supply chain case study, how Unilever aligned its supply chain management, and Unilevers spotlight. According to Supply Chain Management Review (Monahan, Sean Nardone, Robert, Nov2007, Vol. 11), it has been claimed that Unilever has to upgrade facets of its supply chain operations to halt ahead in the fast-moving consumer packaged goods industry. Furthermore, Srivni (http//www.zimbio.com/ Jun-19-07) asserted that while Unilever keeping its global branding, its strategy is to have local supply chain for local call for to minimize complexity. It seems a lucid strategy for OSCM in order to make profit and consolidate brand effectively.FindingsIn this section, author using SWOT analysis to analyze the internal and external environment of Unilever.Figure 1StrengthsWeaknessesClearly supply chain management visionhighly complex supply chain and production lineUsing information technology topical anesthetic supply chain for local trainStrong networ k of sales and distributionMany products have low profitOpportunitiesThreatsIncreasing in environment friendly productGlobalizationThere are many competitorsStrengthsUnilever is a global company so their supply chain management seems to be very well organized. The first strength is Unilever make a clear vision for their supply chain management. IEE (www.iee.org, 2004) states five strategies on Unilever supply chain managementClearly defined global strategy and an effective and chesty strategy into action processes.Focus on cost reduction, to be achieved through regular monitoring of a standard set of globally shared KPIs along with consistent data acquisition.Consistent global come out to, delivery of manufacturing excellence.Convergent organization. Clearly defined skill definitions of all supply chain roles.Established process to enable a rapid and cost effective implementation of innovation.Furthermore, Unilever implement information technology (IT) in their supply chain with t he figure to manage the flow of product better. Because Unilever have many factories in the world, they use different type of supply chain for each country so they stinkpot meet the demand of local customers. Strong network of sale and distribution is the one more strength of Unilever.WeaknessesUnilever have a huge number of product brands (over 1600 brands) but 400 brands make up over 90% of Unilevers total sales (http//www.zimbio.com, Jun-19-07)good . As a consequence, the ineffective brands make them money but not very advantageous and become one of their weakness point.OpportunitiesCustomers focus more on the products which are friendly with environment, it is an opportunity for Unilever to hold fast the trend and get more customers from competitors with the strategy in greening their supply chain such as cutting emissions. The second opportunity for Unilever is globalization develop. Their supply chain will find easier to approach customers because the world without barrier .ThreatsUnilever set up factories, branches in more than 100 countries and they have numerous competitors from other global companies equivalent PG and Nestle and also competitors from local. Global enterprises with strong brands and experience in management while local companies understand the demand of consumers and they have support from local government lead to a threat for Unilever.Discussion and analysisIT solutionAccording to Srivni (http//www.zimbio.com, Jun-19-07), the first solution for Unilever to organize supply chain management is the use of information technology. Firstly, Unilever use enterprise resource political programning (ERP) system to manage activities in supply chain. ERP with huge databases can access the status of supply chain such as distribution and sales. As a result they can control the flow of products well and make sure it is not interrupted. By using IT in supply chain management, company also reduce the costs and improve efficiency in the chain and bring the company closer to their consumers. Moreover, IT helps Unilever track their products better from distribution centers to stores, they will have right strategy to reduce the length of product runs and make other refinements to react more quickly to changes in demand (http//www.zimbio.com, Jun-19-07). Finally, Unilever apply integrated supply management information system (ISIS) which help the collected information is examine quickly and easily by supply managers in national as well as global companies. With this system, its managers may discuss and make a decision with suppliers clearly and effectively. Therefore, both of them make benefits from this way (Sean Monahan and Robert Nardone, 2007). caterpillar track to GrowthBased on the weakness point in SWOT analysis, Unilever make a plan name Path to harvest focus on diminution non production items (NPI). Before discussing the results of this plan, this report is button to analyze the reason why they have to cut NPI. In 2000, there were over 1600 brands belong to Unilever. However, the company recognized that the high profit brands were around four coulomb and many other brands take a huge amount of money to organize their supply chain. Unilever decided to stop producing over five hundred and sell seven hundred brands and get over 16 billion euro. With this amount of money, they can raiment more in supply chain management system. The goal of this plan is simplify the business and reducing complexity (http//www.zimbio.com, Jun-19-07). This plan brings to Unilever many advantages but there are some disadvantages when Unilever apply Path to growth. In 2004, their net profit lost by over 300 million dollars, and the company still focus significantly on local market lead to fragment in global market.ConclusionThe purpose of this report is answering the question How does Unilever organize their supply chain management? The finding is based on the SWOT analysis which shows the internal (strengths and we aknesses) and the external (opportunities and threats) environmental in supply chain of Unilever. Unilever apply IT to manage their supply chain to reduce the cost and improve the effect. They also use plan path to growth to sell and stop production over one thousand ineffective brands. These strategies help Unilever to organize their supply chain better and more effectively.RecommendationsUnilever is a strong company in global market. They have many strengths point but they have some weaknesses point. After the process of findings and analysis the information of Unilever, the company should focus more on their supply chain of high profit products to maximize revenue and ensure their supply to customers is on time.