Distribution Centers for Supply Chain Work
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Supply Chain Work and Distribution Centers
Supply chain tasks are performed in distribution and work centers where resources are allocated, jobs are sequenced with resources, dispatching jobs and monitoring progress. Work within the supply chain is managed in work and distribution centers to ensure a balance between workflow and cash flow in the supply chain (Chase, & Jacobs, 2014). The effectiveness of work centers provides speed of flow of goods and ensuring that the job schedules are not interrupted. Such centers support the distribution of resources and duties to ensure flow and completion of work based on what is needed over time. People, equipment, and resources are scheduled in the centers, and then the work is initiated based on priority establishment and the sequence set.
The video under review is a presentation of the opinions of Emre Gollum, a supply chain manager at a pharmaceutical company (Gollu, 2015). The present speaker views on the pharmaceutical supply chain, giving his vastness in the field and the reach knowledge and skills in his possession. The speaker (Gollu, 2015), notes that as a regional manager, he is tasked with ensuring the flow of products in those regions giving consideration that the supply chain concept misses in pharmaceutical companies. The industry considers supply chain as a simple process, and most of them prefer centralized supply chain that is not flexible.
Pharmaceutical industry common practice is the production of goods at one point and then provides them throughout the world (Gollu, 2015). This can be a challenge considering distances within regions and the lap times in time and markets. The more the demand for goods, the more the supply would be needed for those markets, and thus a centralized system that is not flexible may not achieve that (Gollu, 2015). The concept of the industry do not allow flexibility, but with the needs of the products, there is dire need for reorganization and decentralizing their supply and build up the real concept of supply chain within their organizations.
Distribution centers ensure that products reach the markets and the consumers as needed and that there is no deficit or overflow. Being not able to get medicine affect the users and making the company lose since they cannot supply the products to the markets as required. The patients and health institutions look forward to ensuring that the medicines are available, and the companies must make sure that the necessary products are available through an efficient supply chain that provides continuity and the availability of products. Interruption of supplies may not be easily recovered if the supply chain is not active, giving competitors more opportunities to gain the market share (Gollu, 2015).
More investments may be required to regain the market share, and therefore companies must ensure their supply chain avails the products as expected in the market. Companies must give priority to ensuring the achievement of end-to-end supply chain and directly reflect it in the markets (Gollu, 2015). This process starts with the production and to the final delivery of products that are mandatory and follows the sequence. Supply chain management must be viewed as a strategic strength that brings advantage such as cost efficiency, acquiring and maintaining markets and ensuring consistency of business and the continual availability of products. The companies must, therefore, reflect on the importance of distribution centers, work centers, and reflect it in their structure at different levels (Gollu, 2015).
The firms that can adapt the real supply chain strategy will be able to respond to the markets and the changes that differ within regions to avoid difficulties in the differences. The video was not that useful and even as the speaker tries to explain the pharmaceutical company chain (Gollu, 2015), he does not come out clear to suggest distribution and work centers as the solutions. As much as the speaker was clear, there is the influence of the first language, and the speaker was trying to explain points though not directly linking the strategies.