Supply chain management assignment on the challenges faced by Cincinnati Seasonings Company

Question

Task: In your supply chain management assignment describes the company and discusses the relevance of simulations to analyse supply chains. Discuss the four supply chain entities that SCM Globe uses to model a supply chain. Describe the challenges you faced and your strategy (wins) for designing and operating supply chains. What are the 3 or 4 main guiding principles (Linked with the concepts/theories) that your strategy focuses on? Discuss how firms expand supply chain operations to support company growth.

Answer

Introduction
Background of the organisation considered for thesupply chain management assignment
The Cincinnati seasonings company considered for this supply chain management assignmentis based in the Midwest of the United States of America and has trademarked their product "spicy cube'' in the country. The founder of the business enterprise learned about food seasons and other vital spices while growing up and working in the family business. Their family has been operating a chain of restaurants in Cincinnati that specialise in the Cincinnati style chilli and have contributed to world cuisine. It has been highlighted by Duanet al. (2020), the distribution of raw materials depends on the efficiency of the supply chain of a particular business enterprise in a specific geographic location. The Cincinnati seasoning analysed in the supply chain management assignmenthas been distributing its spicy cube, the highly desired product in the market with a wholesale value of $1000. The supply chain of the company has one single warehouse distribution centre, one factory and three different stores in different cities.

Relevance of stimulation for the analysis of supply chains in thesupply chain management assignment
It is found in the supply chain management assignment that the adoption of AI in the stimulation of the supply chain has been growing in recent times and approximately 42% of the organisations have adopted agile methodologies with the help of stimulating projects which have them in the quicker realisation of the risks that might occur in the future. Stimulation of the supply chain helps business enterprises to reduce their effort and waste of resources by using artificial intelligence that stimulates real-life scenarios (Tordecillaet al. 2021). The relevance of supply chain stimulation depends on multiple factors mentioned in the supply chain management assignment:

Advanced analytics
Realistic model and its development
Software that has the capability of determining different scenarios
Having access to unstructured as well as structured data
Supply chains have a combination of four different entities that interact with each other to drive their operation. The entities mentioned in the supply chain management assignment are:

a. Product- The things that are in demand at different locations
b. Facilities- The locations of manufacturing consumption, selling and storing of the product.
c. Routes- The path that has been taken by the vehicles to transport the finished product between the facilities
d. Vehicles- The available mechanism to move the finished product between various facilities for meeting its demand (Perussi, Gressler, &Seleme, 2019).

Implementation of strategy in the supply chain management assignment
Challenges encountered in running and designing a profitable and efficient supply chain The central challenge in the management of the supply chain mentioned in the supply chain management assignmentis the creation of a balance between efficiency and responsiveness. The central identified challenge faced by the supply chain is reducing the operation and inventory cost (efficiency) while meeting the demand for the product in the market (responsiveness) (Tseng et al. 2019). The first challenge is to continue the supply chain for a period of 30 days. The data that is available shows that the demand for the product Spicy cube is much lower as compared to the inventory that is at the hand of the company at its various distribution centres therefore it was acquired for a challenge to run the supply chain for a period of 30 days. It has been highlighted in the supply chain management assignmentby Merzlyakova&Goncharova (2020), the expansion of a business or a supply chain requires efficient management of the available resources. The second most important challenge is the addition of two different and keeping them running for the next 30 days and also by adding more delivery routes that will support the expansion of the business. The business enterprise already had an excess of inventory at hand and the addition of another two stores along with the management of the inventory would have become a behemoth task to complete. The third and most critical challenge mentioned in the supply chain management assignmentis the lowering of operation and transportation costs while reducing the enhanced inventory and extending the supply chain for another 30 days. All these challenges are required to be fulfilled while ensuring the development of the business in the market.

Guiding principles that the strategy focuses on reducing the inventory levels across the supply chain
The available data clearly shows that the demand for the product has reduced significantly and the inventory present in the warehouses of the organisation is excessive which is further reducing the cost of operation of these storage locations. According to the views of Katsikouliet al. (2021), there are certain guiding principles and strategies that become the core of supply chain management in improving the overall efficiency of the whole process.

Change of delivery routes and increase in storage capacity
The change in the delivery routes mentioned in thesupply chain management assignmentwill ensure that the products are delivered much faster as compared to the older routes. It is evident fact that the availability of more storage facilities will ensure that the cost associated with the inventory management of a specific warehouse will reduce. According to the views of Hamdy, Mostafa &Elawady (2018), the availability of warehouses at strategic locations enables a smooth transition of the activities of the supply chain. It is found in the supply chain management assignment that the available data clearly shows that the demand for spices has decreased and the in-hand inventory of the products is much more. Therefore, a much faster method of delivering the product to the customers is required in order to reduce the pressure on the warehouses of the company.

Figure 1: Facilities of Cincinnati spices
(Source: Obtained from Stimulation)

Increase in demand for the product
The business enterprise is required to look into the demand for its product in the market. According to the comments of Pour, Hosseinzadeh&Mahdiraji (2021) in the supply chain management assignment, social media marketing enables companies to highlight their product in the market and reach a large customer segment within a short span of time. One of the most important strategies is the efficient marketing of the product so that its demand can be increased and also with the use of shorter delivery routes the finished products can be delivered to the suppliers within very less time.

Figure 2: Supply chain of Cincinnati spice
(Source: Obtained from Stimulation)

Reduction of operational cost
The operational cost of the company can be reduced significantly by reducing the inventory management cost as well as increasing the demand for the product in the market. Transaction cost theory (TCT) mentioned in the supply chain management assignmenthighlights the importance of management of the processes within a supply chain that requires additional resources and increases the cost of operation (Ketokivi& Mahoney, 2020). The introduction of cold storage facilities within the warehouses will significantly increase the lifespan of the product as well as increase the capacity of the trucks and the use of new roots for delivering the product will significantly reduce the operational cost of the company.

Discussion
Expansion of supply chain operation to support the growth of the company
The further expansion of supply chain operation as per the supply chain management assignmentwill ensure the growth of the financial resources which can be translated to other important aspects of the business for future growth and development. According to the views of Zhao et al. (2022), the three-stage theory of International expansion helps in understanding the link between the performance of a specific sector and its multinationalty. The supply chain can be made more efficient by lowering inventory and transportation costs. The caring capacity of the drugs can also be increased in order to increase the efficiency of the supply chain.

Figure 3: Transportation facilities for Cincinnati spice
(Source: Obtained from Stimulation)

It is quite clear from the available data mentioned in thesupply chain management assignmentthat most of the trucks with the Cincinnati seasoning company have very less carrying capacity. The increasing caring capacity and size of the truck can help in improving the overall performance of the supply chain and help in further expansion of the business.

Viability of railroad transportation for the expansion of the business for the supply chain management assignment
Railroad transportation will be the most efficient method for the expansion of the business addressed in thesupply chain management assignmentas it will be able to reduce the transportation cost along with the inventory cost. The use of railways is much more efficient as compared to complete dependents on the roadways as railways are unable to carry much more logistics as compared to the vehicles on the roadways (Jayakrishnan, Mohamad & Abdullah, 2019).

Figure 4: Location of Cincinnati spice warehouse
(Source: Obtained from Stimulation)

The available data in the supply chain management assignmentclearly shows that the warehouses of the Cincinnati spices company are located in close vicinity to the railway network of the country which will make it much easier for the business enterprise to transport its product to the customers in the market and will significantly help in expansion of the business without any further additional cost.

Transportation options available with the organisation along with the opportunities of reducing its operational cost
The transportation facilities available to the business enterprise considered in the supply chain management assignmentare limited and the company has already been utilising all the available facilities at its disposal. Cincinnati Spice has already been utilising all of its resources on the roadways and the company is also looking to expand its supply chain and incorporate railways as a method of delivering its product to the customers. According to the views of Singh & Verma (2018), the appropriate balance between the use of transportation and inventory management helps in increasing the efficiency of the supply chain.

Conclusion
It can be concluded from the supply chain management assignment that the effective use of all the available resources within a supply chain can help in improving the overall business and its expansion in newer markets. It was further found out that Cincinnati spices can use railways as a method of transportation to increase its penetration into the market without any additional cost of operation. Furthermore, the reduction of inventory management costs can be done by introducing cold storage facilities in the warehouses. The transaction cost theory addressed in thesupply chain management assignmentis one of the best-known guidelines that can help in reducing the additional cost of operation specified in the supply chain for the concerning business enterprise.

References
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