Supply Chain Management

It’s no longer just about cost…
Gone are the days where supply chains are seen as pure cost centres responsible for up to 70% of an organisation’s cost base, and improvement activities were centred on cost reduction and process optimisation. The ever-increasing demand from shareholders and customers are providing fuel to the burning platform of transforming your supply chain into a deliverer of real value.

Global markets have made the supply chain more complex than ever to manage by demanding flexible, resilient, responsive and reliable supply chains at least cost. Customers have turned the supply chain into a demand chain and mass production has made way for mass customisation as consumers demand personalised products and services in a convenient and affordable manner. All of this has to be achieved in a responsible manner. Corporate governance is an executive imperative and compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley, King II and Industry Charters are boardroom topics.

So, in order to remain competitive, companies must place greater attention on improving and optimising their supply chains. But organisations don’t transform their supply chains into flexible, resilient, responsive and reliable supply chains overnight. Initiatives to transform your supply chain, in support of key business imperatives, require significant investment and decision making based on a sound case for change.

How PwC can help you?
With over 8 000 Performance Improvement professionals in more than 90 countries worldwide, we are able to leverage in-depth, local expertise supported by an extensive global network to provide clients with industry-specific business solutions. Our approach to supply chain optimisation is not a traditional one. We analyse, develop and implement solutions using a holistic approach by integrating the environment in which the supply chain operates by including:

• Strategic imperatives: Organisations adopt strategic imperatives that influence the way they operate. These imperatives change over time and are also industry specific. As an example, Cost Optimisation is a Consumer & Industrial Products (CIPS) imperative but not in the Public Sector where Service Delivery and Compliance are key. As such, any improvement opportunity identified in the CIPS industry will be supported by a strong business case with an impact assessment on the key financial parameters of the business. Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment is another example, and our solutions are designed around an organisation’s strategic imperatives.
• Levers of change: Any solution impacts on Process, People, Systems and Organisation, and by focusing on these levers of change we ensure an integrated and optimal solution.
• Supply chain functional areas: Our solution set provides an end-to-end coverage of the supply chain, which includes:
  • Supply Chain Strategy
  • Integrated Supply Chain Planning
  • Procurement
  • Conversion
  • Logistics
  • Customer Operations
  • Product Lifecycle Management
  • Asset Management
• Tools & Methodologies: Using global best practice tools and methodologies, such as the proven PwC Supply Chain Diagnostic, to identify and prioritise improvement opportunities, we are able to bring leading practices, benchmarks and experience through our global network of professionals and databases.