At the recent 35th Annual SAPICS Conference and Exhibition for Supply Chain Professionals*, corporate and public sectors alike were urged to become more familiar with the various supply chain functions as an integrated whole.
Logistics is usually top of mind when the term “supply chain management” is mentioned to a lay person. This misconception, together with the focus in the public sector on effective procurement as main function of the supply chain, contributes to a number of issues hampering South Africa’s ability to trade at optimum level, both locally and globally. In their presentation on the strategic role and effective functioning of the supply chain function in South African organisations, Cobus Rossouw, SAPICS President and CIO of Imperial Logistics, and Nicole Binnekade, graduate from the University of Pretoria said: “South African organisations must recognise the advantages of managing their supply chains as a competitive weapon.” Alan Milliken, Senior Specialist, Supply Chain Education, BASF Group, USA , says “Effective supply chain management can be informally described as having the right people in the right jobs doing the right thing at the right times. One of the keys to successful integrated supply chain management to get users and key business stakeholders involved very early in the process.” Trending themes across topics presented by both local and international speakers was firstly the change in mindset needed from silo operations to a more integrated approach. Kate Stubbs, marketing executive of Barloworld Logistics adds, “Forming smart partnerships and outsourcing for the right skills, knowledge and abilities is no longer seen as losing control, but gaining intelligence, capabilities and resources.”According to Grant Marshbank, COO of VSc Solutions,“Integrated supply chain solutions today are undoubtedly the key to making inspired business decisions in the future.”
The second topic that featured quite strongly during the various sessions was a lack of knowledge of the importance of customer service orientated thinking in supply chain management. Osita Chukwuma, CEO of DGS Supply Chain, UK says, “Improved collaboration between all parties in the value chain will be essential in order to achieve a more efficient and effective value chain to better serve the needs of the consumer.” Peralt van der Merwe, MD of Heineken Ibecor, Belgium, concurs, ”Companies must win as one sustainable unit together with all their stakeholders and as per stakeholder expectations and dialogue.” Lora Cecere, CEO of Supply Chain Insights, said: “It is impressive to see such a large gathering of supply chain professionals in a small country at a time where unemployment is so high. South Africa is uniquely positioned to gain benefit in the race for supply chain modernisation of Africa. However, it requires new forms of corporate/government partnerships. To capitalise on this opportunity, manufacturers need to step up.”
