A major goal in supply chain management strategy is to minimize the bullwhip effect. The bullwhip effect occurs when inaccurate or distorted information is passed on through the links in the supply chain. As the bad information gets passed from one party to the next, the distortions worsen and cause poor ordering decisions by upstream parties in the supply chain that have little apparent link to the final end-item product demand. As information gets farther from the end customer, the worse the quality of information gets as the supply chain members base their guesses on the bad guesses of their partners. The results are wasteful inventory investments, poor customer service, inefficient distribution, misused manufacturing capacity, and lost revenues for all parties in the supply chain.

For example, Open Range Jeans (a fictitious company) are sold in a popular retail store chain. The retail chain decides to promote Open Range Jeans and reduce the price to boost customer traffic in its stores, but the chain does not tell the Open Range manufacturer of this promotion plan. The manufacturer sees an increase in retail orders, forecasts a long-term growth in demand for its jeans, and places orders with its suppliers for more fabric, zippers, and dye.

Suppliers of fabric, zippers and dye see the increase in orders from the jeans manufacturer and boost their orders for raw cotton, chemicals, etc. Meanwhile, the retail chain has ended its Open Range promotion, and sales of the jeans plummet below normal levels because customers have stocked up to take advantage of the promotion prices. Just as end-customer demand falls, new jeans are being manufactured, and raw materials are being sent to the jeans factory. When the falling end-customer demand is finally realized, manufacturers rush to slash production, cancel orders, and discount inventories.

Not wanting to get burned twice, manufacturers wait until finished goods jean inventories are drawn down to minimal levels. When seasonal demand increases jeans purchases, the retail stores order more Open Range jeans, but the manufacturers cannot respond quickly enough. A stockout occurs at the retail store level just as customers are purchasing jeans during the back-to-school sales season. Retail customers respond to the stockout by purchasing the jeans of a major competitor, causing long-term damage to Open Range’s market share.

In addition to managing the bullwhip effect, supply chain managers must also contend with a variety of factors that pose on-going challenges:

Choosing suppliers is one of the most important decisions made by a company. The efficiency and value a supplier provides to an organization is reflected in the end product the organization produces. The supplier must not only provide goods and services that are consistent with the company’s mission, it must also provide good value. The three most important factors in choosing a supplier are price, quality, and on-time delivery.

A company must not only choose who it wants as a supplier, it must also decide how many suppliers to use for a given good or service. There are advantages to using multiple suppliers and there are advantages to using one supplier. Whether to single-source or multiple-source often depends on the supply chain structure of the company and the character of the goods or services it produces.

If a company uses a single supplier, it can form a partnership with that supplier. A partnership is a long-term relationship between a supplier and a company that involves trust, information sharing, and financial benefits for both parties. When both parties benefit from a partnership, it is called a “win-win situation”. It is easy to see how choosing suppliers is one of the most important decisions a company makes.

There are advantages and disadvantages to using one supplier. One advantage is that the supplier might own patents or processes and be the only source for the product. With one supplier, pricing discounts may be granted because purchases over the long-term are large and unit production costs for the supplier are lower. The supplier may be more responsive if you are the only purchaser of an item, resulting in better supplier relations. Just-in-time ordering is easier to implement, and deliveries may be scheduled more easily. Finally, using a single supplier is necessary to form a partnership. One disadvantage is that if that one supplier experiences a disaster at its warehouse like a fire or a tornado, or its workers go on strike, there is no other ready source for the product. Another possible disadvantage is that a single supplier may not be able to supply a very large quantity if it is suddenly needed. Also, sometimes the government requires the use of multiple suppliers for government projects.

There are also advantages and disadvantages to using multiple suppliers. Suppliers might provide better products and services over time if they know they are competing with other suppliers. Also, if a disaster happens at one supplier’s warehouse, other suppliers can make up the loss. If a company uses multiple suppliers, there is more flexibility of volume to match demand fluctuations. One disadvantage with multiple suppliers is that it is more difficult to forge long-term partnerships. Information sharing becomes riskier, lower volumes for each supplier provide fewer opportunities for cost savings, and suppliers tend to be less responsive to emergency situations.

Partnerships are long-term relationships between a supplier and a company that involve trust and sharing and result in benefits for both parties. A good example of a partnership is the partnering between a Deere & Co. farm equipment factory and its suppliers. Deere decided to outsource its sheet metal, bar stock, and castings part families.

When Deere sent requests for bids to 120 companies, 24 companies responded to say they were interested. Deere then sent a team of engineers, quality specialists, and supply chain managers to evaluate each company. One supplier was chosen for each of the three part families. All three of the suppliers that were chosen were located less than two hours of driving time from the Deere plant.

For many years, all three suppliers have continued to provide outstanding quality, delivery, and cost performance to Deere. The suppliers benefited by gaining a long-term customer with a large amount of profitable business. Deere realized a 50 per cent drop in production costs on the three part families and was able to better focus on its mission of manufacturing farm equipment.

Supply chain management concerns the development of communication and information systems to link suppliers together in cooperative partnerships that promote advantage for all participants. Benefits include faster response times, reduced inventory costs, increased accuracy, and improved quality.