A combination of state-of-the-art information technology, financial expertise, and a professional talent pool makes Singapore the optimal place for a supply chain nerve centre and logistics hub. Several MNCs, including IBM and Volvo have capitalised on the smooth flow of information, goods, and funds in Singapore for their global supply chain needs.
Singapore has a sturdy infrastructure along with the world's busiest container transhipment port and one of the busiest and best-connected airports all across Asia. Singapore's vibrant logistics ecosystem has also led to more than 3000 logistics providers coming here. More than 50% of the world's top 25 third-party logistics providers have set up substantial operations here.
Currently there is a high demand for value added logistics services both in Singapore and the Asia Pacific region. The industry has moved from basic needs such as supplying transportation and warehousing to providing total integrated logistics solutions. Specialists with good training and education in the area of supply chain and logistics are required to fuel and sustain the targeted competitive growth.
In order to achieve some awareness, the Supply Chain Council organised an event discussing about how to make the supply chain ready for the future. The event – Supply Chain World South East Asia Conference & Exposition held on the 6th & 7th of September, 2007 at Singapore which is attended by supply chain professionals from across the globe was also attended by some of the Global Logistics & Supply Chain Management students from S P Jain Center of Management, Singapore (SPJCM).
During the proceedings of the conference, Victor Tay, Director, Enterprise Development Group, said that Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore are the top countries in Asia for Supply Chain Management. This was based on a report released by KPMG. Mr Tay talked about collaborative supply chains as the future of supply chain management. The large market players will keep on growing and for the smaller companies to challenge them, they need to form alliances and collaborations to increase their level of participation in the market. This would require integration of their systems with another company. Process integration is the biggest challenge in supply chain collaboration.
Dr John Paul, Managing Director, iCognitive Pte Ltd, spoke about how the limitations of sharing employees, shareholders and management of an organization could act as another hindrance for collaborative supply chains. It is a huge challenge to collaborate internally within and the partners need to know how to share profits based on their strengths and contributions.
Mr Koh Juay Meng, the President of SCC – SEA Chapter stressed the need of building mutual trust among collaborators. The hindrance in collaborations can be removed by trust building as the initial step.
In the discussions with the industry leaders, Mr Ashish Kumar from SPJCM talked about the importance of sustainability of profits and sharing of information. In collaborative supply chains, can a company look into the books of accounts of the other collaborator or share knowhow about their systems and processes?
Dr. Krizz spoke about the line that needs to be drawn within collaborations. Generally collaboration is perceived as a win-win situation where, amalgamation of strengths of organizations is the key performance factors. The field of supply chain has not become leaner by collaborations. Collaborations are focusing on maximising of profits which alone could backfire. He suggested better application of technology to improve supply chains. Technology not as a mere tool for computing but solution can lead to improvement in secured flow of information. Dr. Krizz Chantjiraporn is the President of Thai Logistics & Production Society.
Finally, technology is only a tool. It is not always the latest technology that can give us the best solution. Technology will evolve and human thinking cannot be stopped. The industry needs better managers who can improve and emerge with the global business of supply chains.
1 comment:
Interesting to know.
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