Alignment in Supply chain

Alignment in supply chain ensures that interests of all the participants in a supply chain are consistent. Generally companies which has misaligned supply chain choose an option which benefits them rather than choosing an option which benefits the participant of their supply chain. Thus its very important to design a supply chain in which interest of all the partners coincide.

One of the biggest reason why companys fail to achieve a strict alignment of their supply chain is lack of a clear company strategy. Until a company does not have a clear line on which to align its supply chain it will keep on beating around the bush and misalignment will keep marring the companys growth.

Different elements of Supply chain alignment-

1. Customer alignment This is the most important type of alignment which keeps the customers needs and the companys strategy in tandem. The companys strategy should always go hand in hand with the needs of the customers. For this alignment its very important to define the different cohort of the customers which the company caters to based on customers needs. Only after this segmentation the company can clearly identify which strategy to align with what kind of customers.2. Supplier alignment A supplier is an integral part of supply chain and its very important. Small changes in a company or in market may have differential and disruptive effect on supplier base which may deteriorate the relationship with the supplier. Thus its very important to keep the objectives of a supplier aligned with that of a company to create a fruitful supply chain.3. End to End alignment of incentives- Alignment of incentives of various cogs of a supply chain is very important for the growth of a healthy supply chain. Its a very common observation in a supply chain when marketing have no incentive to control inventory and thus they bloat the demand forecast to ensure availability and finally the supply chain is left with excess inventory. Thus the alignment of incentives across the supply chain will ensure that internal performance evaluation and bonus structures are decided on one metrics not by different metrics for different people in supply chain.4. Information alignment Cohesion of aligned information flowing through the supply chain right from the initial supplier and final distributor is very important to create the right alignment in the supply chain.5. Internal alignment Internal alignment among the core processes of supply chain ie planning ,sourcing, manufacturing and delivery is very important to give the differentiating edge to the supply chain strategy of the company.