Which is the responsible organization for supply chain management? Who is the boss of a supply chain manager? Why?
Who are her collaborators? What are her primary responsibilities and KPIs? What is her rank in the organization? Does it depend on the industry?
I would suggest you focus on roles and responsibilities, rather than positions or titles. A supply chain manager, in a generic sense, is usually responsible for ensuring that inputs and goods are accessed in a timely manner with the minimum delivery cycle and costs.
For a manufacturing industry, as in automotive or food processing companies, the supply chain management role is usually accountable to the production manager who would have overall responsibility for the production process. They coordinate, in coordination with the production cycle, the purchasing, delivery and receipt of inventories and supplies, and the stocking, despatch and delivery of finished goods to customers. Within this role, the management of transport could either fall under the supply chain manager (if done in-house), or as an adjunct (if outsourced) where the role becomes a coordinating function.
Specific structures and components of the role would vary from industry to industry, and from firm to firm. Broadly, they are farther differentiated depending on the strategy for sourcing (i.e. own production or outsource), and the scale of the operations (i.e. global, regional or local).
Among the KPIs are those related to delivery cycles, costs, losses, receipt of goods as specified, and man hours employed, among others.
A supply chain manager is someone who is responsible for the management of equipment, hardware, and other logistical details of a company or a company’s division. It is their job to manage all of the steps needed to purchase raw materials, deliver it to various points throughout the business, ensure that the company makes enough of its product to meet customer demand, and deliver the output to the right destinations on time.
What does a Supply Chain Manager do?
Supply chain managers must oversee the import or creation of raw materials to be used by the company. They must be able to track the materials as they are combined, shaped, and altered to form new products. They must be able to monitor these items all throughout the product development process in order to ensure that adequate supplies are on hand. Lastly, they must develop a delivery system that will ensure maximum product creation and optimal shipments to customers or other manufacturers for further use.
Typically, the supply chain manager also needs to be well-versed in process management and development to have an adequate understanding of how the company functions. Ideally, the manager will be able to bring in fresh ideas that allow the company to deliver its products at higher quantities or at a faster rate to the market. These ideas might be as simple as reallocating employees within certain areas, to bringing in advanced technology so as to do a better job of tracking hundreds or even thousands of materials and parts.
What is the workplace of a Supply Chain Manager like?
The typical business setting for a supply chain manager is an office environment, in which the manager can oversee and analyze the day-to-day activities of the company. Managers may be located in a business setting, with other offices and cubicles, or they may be situated just off a manufacturing or engineering floor. They typically need to maintain close proximity to the production or manufacturing areas that they oversee.
Supply chain managers may be called upon to travel to other manufacturing sites if they work for a company that has multiple locales. They may also need to visit new vendors or partners to find new means of production or management, whether that means finding new sources of raw materials, developing new production floors, or engaging new manufacturers who can further work with finished products.
I would add to the answers above: Can be a specialist company, or, a function of a large organisation which has a number of other functions, e.g., marketing, IT, Finance, etc. If part of a large organisation, then the boss could be the Director/Head of Distribution/Logistics or Director/Head of Procurement. Sometimes these functions are integrated and sometimes they are separated within the organisation.
Supply chain management involves activities all along the supply chain which begins with supplier and ends with customer / consumer. Therefore, supply chain manager is required to engage directly in materials and logistic management and must work in close coordination with manufacturing and marketing management, also must take care of information flow, materials flow and fund flow in the process. He / She therefore, must be a generalist having fair knowledge of all aspects of management, specially in today's context, when we talk of cost competitiveness, green supply chain management and sustainability. The organizational structure, which fixes the authority - responsibility relationship will vary from industry to industry depending on type and size. However I feel, the boss of supply chain manager must be the head of operations.
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