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| Mobile Apps in Supply Chain |
Mobile Apps are Not for Inventory Alone
When we say mobile apps for supply chain, the first thing that comes to mind is Inventory Management. Most of the warehouse management system (WMS) have mobile devices for tracking inventory, scanning stock etc. But that alone is not mobile apps in Supply chain. It is more than that.
Supply Chain Quick View
As the supply chain manager, can you instantly say, - how many of your material deliveries from suppliers are on time or how many are expected delays.
Normally, this kind of information needs you to log into your company network, connect to the ERP system, run multitude of reports, navigate into multiple screens and then come out with an answer to the above question.
But with mobile applications, it is possible to answer such questions while you are on the phone with your vendor and having coffee in a restaurant.
That is the power of mobile applications in supply chain.
Supply Chain Dashboard in Mobile Apps
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| Supply Chain Dashboard |
Refer the typical supply chain dashboard provided by a Mobile Application for supply chain. It gives all the information needed by a supply chain manager at one glance.
Alerts :- This tells what the Supply chain Manager needs to focus at this point in time. It could be delayed shipments, Supplier late response or Inventory shortage etc.
Orders:- This tells the status of various orders in the system. How many are over due, how many are pending shipment, How many are cancelled etc.
Shipments :- This tells the status of shipments expected this week. How many shipments are overdue. Where the shipments are currently due.
Inventory :- This will tell the current inventory picture of the entire supply chain including upstream inventory at vendor locations and downstream inventory at Retail outlets.
Dashboard :- This gives the details of current business trend including supply chain transaction volume and business metrics like On time delivery (OTD)
Drill Down Into Details
While the summary of the Supply chain is available at one quick glance, it is possible to drill down into the details as per individual roles and functions. For example a Material manager may be interested in viewing how much of inventory of a particular item is in a particular location warehouse
The picture of a mobile app for supply chain on the left shows that the inventory manger can have a quick look of the
- Current On hand quantity
- Average Daily Consumption
- Day of Supply Left out
- In transit Quantity
These are vital information needed by any supply chain manager. If they see the number of days of supply going below the optimum level, it is a red alert and needs immediate action.
Mobile App for Suppliers
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| Mobile App for Suppliers |
Mobile apps are useful not only for the receiving side of the supply chain . But also from the selling side of the supply chain.
With a mobile app that is connected to the supply chain, sales executives and fulfillment mangers are on top of their customer questions.
- Where is my order
- When is it expected
- How much stock is available right now
All these questions can be answered by the sales executive in few touches and not needed complex reports from the ERP system. Mobile app adds power to the execution and fulfillment effective.
Conclusions
Mobile Applications in Supply chain is gaining importance. Conventional ways of managing supply chain using reports run from ERP is giving way to mobile applications. Mobile applications gives instance access to vital information at the finger tip. With cloud technology, and Saas (Software as Service) applications, companies need not develop the supply chain mobile applications by themselves. They can leverage pre-built applications like TPSynergy to manage the supply chain and provide a mobile application solution for the supply chain.
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