The Ice Cream Supply Chain

The ice cream supply chain is hot! When they move from the manufacturing plant to the distribution center to the store, and eventually into the shopping cart and home of the customer, ice cream producers must ensure that goods retain their consistency. When the ice cream travels from one place, say, a processing plant, to another, such as a delivery truck, the chance of an unexpected temperature change appears to be greatest. Usually, the manufacture of ice cream begins with a handful of components: water, milk or cream, emulsifiers, stabilizers, and sugar. With this simple recipe, ice cream makers continue to innovate and introduce an ever-expanding number of variations. It also increases the expense and complexity of the functions of ordering, demand planning, forecasting, and stock Manufacturing and distribution often bring complexity to the variety of items.

Transport to deep-freeze storage

The food logistics companies ensure that the ice cream is delivered to one of the various deep-freeze storage facilities in strict adherence to the cold chain, which in turn is responsible for further transport. It is critical that the temperature of the frozen food at all times during transport does not exceed-18 degrees Celsius, as an uninterrupted cold chain guarantees top quality. To ensure that the ice cream still has the correct temperature during transport, trucks are cooled down before boarding.

Storage

The boxes are stored in distribution warehouses for frozen products at temperatures between-21 and -24 degrees Celsius after transport, where ideal conditions for ice cream are preserved at all times. Unique sensors permanently control the ambient temperature.

Transport to consumer

The interfaces in the supply chain , particularly while loading goods, pose particular challenges. Prior to servicing, the refrigerated vehicle is cooled down. A temperature reserve is formed as a result of the fact that the ice cream has already been processed between-21 and -24 degrees Celsius. It is also necessary for the trailers to be loaded into tightly sealed door systems that are largely free of thermal bridges. Professional drivers always keep a keen eye on the temperature during transport. The temperature in the trailer is constantly documented by special temperature sensors.

In a similar way to the deep-freeze factory, the distribution of goods to the retailers is carried out. It is important to unload trucks as quickly as possible so that the ice cream can be immediately stored in the deep-freeze space. Only then is the ice cream packed in the retailers' freezer cabinets and made available to customers.

CISCO-Next Generation Supply chain management

Welcome readers to my blog.I am Madhumitha from Amrita School of Business.We all know about CISCO and the supply chain of CISCO is highly diverse, extensive and global.Lets see it in detail. Happy learning.😊😊

Background 

The supply chain for Cisco is highly complex, large, and global. With over 300 product families, Cisco has a wide variety of gears aimed at a number of consumers with widely different preferences and criteria for satisfaction.

Most Cisco products use a development model for the configure-to-order (CTO). Products are produced with customer orders reported. Acquisitions result in a significant percentage of Cisco development and carry their own supply chain specifications and processes that need to be incorporated into Cisco core operations.

In addition to more than 1000 vendors, the Cisco supply chain includes: Manufacturing partners and logistics providers.

● 16 CTO fabrication sites

● 4 Positions on the BTS

● Eight strategic logistics centres

● 25,000-plus order-able product IDs, or PIDs (approximately 25% assembly-to-order, 75% spares)

● Millions of shipments per annum (such as about 9 million cartons delivered in the six months ending March 2014).

Challenge

Like many major companies in today's highly competitive world, Cisco has been trying to transform its supply chain to improve business size and agility. But a highly complex supply chain management ( SCM) system had stymied the business. Disparate CTO and BTS operations, numerous ERP instances, and inefficient, non-standardised processes made scalability almost impossible and hindered customer service and productivity. The Oracle e-Business Suite 11i complex and excessively customised Cisco version included

● More than 2500 customisations, of which an estimated 50% are unused

● 250 Personalised Settings

● Unique Data Objects 30,000

● 19 Special Databases

Fulfilment of order:

● Reduced request latency and order specifying response time

● Automatic prioritisation of customers allocated during supply constraints

● Build to stock model shortened order fulfilment time from 11 days to 3 days

● POs handled in minutes, rather than hours

● Quicker management of transition (due to the removal of multiple systems)

Order and Returns:

● Supply segmented by customer used to plan customer orders

● Close real time backlog contact with setup info

● Parallel realisation of low-margin products through BTS supply chain

● Strengthened handling of returns with Return to Stock

Next Step

The priority of Cisco IT and the LSS program team is on:

● Stability of the R12 platform and of all new features introduced.

● The platform for any new features and functionality, or improvements to existing ones.

● Transformation of other supply chain related LSS systems. 

The IT framework is under way between order management and the supply chain, which will promote the growth of fully automated entities in developing countries.

Thank you!

Have a great day 😊

Contribution of elastic logistics in industry growth

Introduction 

In the past few years, we have seen some excellent innovations in the transport and logistics sectors, including truck platooning, autonomous driving, electric vehicles and other intelligent transport solutions. Yet the industry failed to keep up with the changes in supply and demand until recently. Elastic logistics overcomes this hurdle; it gives flexibility to increase or decrease the ability to meet fluctuating production, warehousing, and shipping demands. In this article, along with the importance, future and growth of elastic logistics, we'll get into the details.

The lean management methods do not work when it comes to logistics. Though intended to be versatile, they are not optimised for logistics, primarily according to the variable demand in modern eCommerce. Lean business models might work well for the manufacturing and shelf stock industries; they are not tailored to logistics. Elastic logistics tends to fill those gaps along with middle-miles and warehousing. The role of elastic logistics in the supply chain remains unclear in practice; however, variables such as sailing schedules, container use, and carrier capacity are being established to make the supply chain more efficient and work with minimal waste.

Some challenges of elastic logistics.

• Over-manufacturing
• Overstocking
• Price volatility
• Half-full vessels

Advantages of elastic logistics.

        Delivery and demand patterns are increasingly difficult to forecast, and have a direct impact on the logistics industry. The co-action between supply and demand has always been at the core of the logistics industry. The rise in the digital age and eCommerce has, however, inflicted a shift, with the weight increasing towards consumers.

        Companies need to adapt in a customer-centric market according to consumer demands. Because market demands can be volatile, companies are searching for an elastic logistics solution to deal with these ever-changing demand levels.

Benefits of elastic logistics for the companies

1.Automation

        The main advantage comes in the form of automation, which turns out to be the most logical solution for a firm that wants to be more flexible in its scaling capabilities. Elastic logistics reduces human error and offers a more efficient packaging process in the production line which allows the company to adjust directly according to demand changes.

2.Third-party partnering 

        The benefit of elastic logistics is collaboration with third parties, which reduces the chance of spending more in internal operations. Companies can now lease additional warehouses locally and in remote locations to adapt to fluctuations in demand in the short term. In addition, the use of external fleets in the form of third-party distribution solutions such as courier services proves to be an successful way to keep ahead of unforeseen rising or decreasing customer demand. Elastic logistics thus provides robust scaling capacities.

3. Enhanced user experience

        All of this increases your ability to fix problems effectively regardless of how the freight shipment is transported. This therefore leads to better customer service and customer loyalty, resulting in enhanced customer retention.

Conclusion

        Growth in dynamic logistics means companies need to become more flexible in their activities and processes. And, there's no question that the implementation of technologies such as AI, IoT, analytics and drones will also affect the logistics future. The development of these technologies has made it necessary to make logistics companies more agile and inevitable.

        With today's growing volatile volatility in demand, along with the increasing need to sustain excellent user experiences, the need for the hour has been the adoption of elastic logistics. Even though the implementation of elastic logistics may sound overwhelming, it can turn out to be a groundbreaking strategy for your company with proper planning.

Happy reading !!😊