Challenges Faced In Supply Chain Management Research Proposal Example

Introduction

Supply chain is the process of the company that needs to be maintained for smooth operation of the company. It has been believed that the supply chain management of Apple Inc is the world’s best supply chain model that a company can follow. But being the best it faces a lot of problem that can be solved with improvement in the use of technology in the daily operation of the company. This research has been made to evaluate the problems faced in the supply chain management of Apple Inc and how these problems can be minimized with the introduction of the IT innovations that makes the work of SCM easier for the company (Greeff & Ghoshal, 2004). Apple Inc also known as the king of innovation, software ecosystem and branding is the world’s leading company that is said to have the world number one supply chain management system. But in reality the view is something different. Different analysis of the supply chain system of Apple Inc has been made to evaluate the problems faced in the supply management. This report is based on analyzing the system and recommending proper technological solution to the problem (Wisner, Leong & Tan, 2005). Though in pen and paper the strategy looks the best but in reality it faces several complexities and challenging issues that need to be solved for smooth operation of the company.

Apple Inc uses different technological module to solve the problems of supply chain in the company. Some of the modules are the use of the ERP system, MIS system and many other systems. The major problems faced by the supply chain management system in the company are the identification of the new products. It is important for the company to maintain the inventories smooth calculation of the movement of the inventories from one place to another. Here emerges the use of the RFID system that helps the company to track its products and solve the problem of identification. It is important for the company to track its logistics and other inventories for smooth working of the organization (Mentzer, 2001). The RFID system helps the company to solve this problem. The supply chain system mainly faces problems in identifying the products, their details to know the specification of the products. The older system was quite costly and time consuming. Hence the problems faced by the company are as follows:

Tracking of the products.

Development of the products with the help of new technology.
Time consuming and costly system.
Checking the inventory, i.e. calculation of the inventory.

Research questions

The questions used to analyze the problems of the company are given below (Roberts, 2006):
What are the problems faced by the supply chain system in Apple Inc?
How can these problems be solved?
Is IT innovation a solution to the problems?
Will this help the company to earn competitive advantage over its competitors?
Is the process cost effective?
What are the future prospects of the technology?
Methodology
The basic method for the collection of data is prolifically engaged in the qualitative analysis of the content. Here in this research the primary data collection method has been used that helps in qualitative analysis of the research study. To understand the RFID system it is important to understand the literature of the supply chain system to know the problems that are faced in the supply chain system and how these problems can be solved. For conducting the research the primary data have been collected by studying and observing the press release and the article that are written on the given topic. The RFID vendors’ websites are studied to understand the actual issue and how the system helps the company in Supply chain management (Crandall, Crandall & Chen, 2010). Different books and online sources are also studied to collect the data and proper analysis will be made with the collected data to understand the system in brief. It is important to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the system before implementing the new technology. The report is interpretive and descriptive in nature that helps to complete the research study.

Pros and cons of RFID

RFID has the following pros and cons that are discussed in details in the following points:
Pros:
It helps in automatic scanning of non sight products: With the help of the RFID system the products can be scanned which are out of sight from the inventory checker.
Reduction of labor and cost: It reduces the work of the labors as well as reduces the labor expense of the company.
Helps in tracking returnable items and assets: The RFID helps in tracking the returnable items and calculation of the assets. The damaged items can be marked with the help of the computer and can be separated from the lot and a different track record can be maintained for the returnable items.
Automatic calculation of the inventories: With the help of the RFID system the inventory calculation can be carried out automatically that reduces the time consumed and save the money of the company.

Improve security management: It increase the security of the products with the inbuilt chips that helps to track the products.

Cons:
Difficult to use: It is difficult to use for the new users and proper training is needed to use the system.

Costlier at time of implementation: It is a costly technology and needs high investment for implementing the system.

Radio Frequency Identification
As we all know that apple is the most successful technology company in the world. The company uses the most advanced radio frequency identification technique that is not familiar with the other companies that manufactures Smartphone, tablet and MP3 players. This technology is quite dominating in the market and the same time is also very difficult for people to use that are not technical (Chopra & Meindl, 2007). The company is one of the RFID companies that spreads the adoptions of the products and also enables the users to learn more lessons for further use. There are several problems attached with this technology such as it does not build the entire product and the user have to buy the external peripherals from the outside market. Apple must also make sure that they make the products much more user friendly so that the users do not face any difficulties in using the product. The Radio Frequency Identification is an advanced and enriched process and that is the reason the products are also quite complex. There have also been several acquisitions in the RFID industry that is quite similar to apple in the creation of the whole product ('Radio frequency identification of dentures', 2013).

Use of RFID in Supply Chain Management

The term supply chain management covers all the processes that are involved for the flow of goods right from the manufacturers to the customers including the transportation features. The concept of supply chain management covers all the important steps that are useful for considering the marketing decisions of apple. These are often considered to be quite complex for the entire process and manage the supply chain management tool that persists several benefits that are quite important for the implementation of the RFID technology ('Replacing bar coding', 2006). The technology has also brought about a revolution in the prospect of supply chain management without any errors. The supply chain management is often considered to be much more precise and at the same time improves the reliability and efficiency of the entire chain in all respects (Hugos, 2003). All the important information are quite available for the planning and the administration processes that are also improved regularly for apple Inc. the RFID usage in the supply chain management helps to understand the entire manufacturing process and the other industries that are in contention with Apple. Hence we can easily state that with the use of the RFID technology, apple uses the best technology and produces the best Smartphone’s, tablets and Mp3 players in the market.

Recommendation

It is recommended that apple must use the RFID technology as it helps in providing better supply chain management techniques. The RFID technique further helps in providing better quality and control and at the same time manages the inventory arrangement organized for the company in all respect. Hence, apple must improvise and adapt the RFID technology to provide better services to the customers.

Conclusion

The results of the above paper are concerned with the adoption of supply chain management to the organization that is prolifically concerned with the basic supply chain along with the major adoption of the RFID. Apple being one of the world’s largest and biggest companies which used RFID for SCM which helps, relatively brand new and also undocumented SCM with a very limited and short number of the deployments of RPID.

References

Chopra, S., & Meindl, P. (2007). Supply chain management. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Crandall, R., Crandall, W., & Chen, C. (2010). Principles of supply chain management. Boca Raton: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group.
Greeff, G., & Ghoshal, R. (2004). Practical E-manufacturing and supply chain management. Oxford: Newnes.
Hugos, M. (2003). Essentials of supply chain management. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.
Mentzer, J. (2001). Supply chain management. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Radio frequency identification of dentures. (2013). Dental Abstracts, 58(1), 49-50. doi:10.1016/j.denabs.2012.08.055
Replacing bar coding. (2006). Nursing, 36(12), 30. doi:10.1097/00152193-200612000-00023
Roberts, C. (2006). Radio frequency identification (RFID). Computers & Security, 25(1), 18-26. doi:10.1016/j.cose.2005.12.003
Wisner, J., Leong, G., & Tan, K. (2005). Principles of supply chain management. Mason, OH: South-Western.