1. Identification of the product and evaluation of its operations along with supply chain designing and delivery implementation in the UK
Rice was identified as major staple rice around the world for half of its population as well as primary source of income for majority of population in Asian countries. Supply chain operations associated with rice as a product can be identified as a traditional multi-stage ecosystem. In terms of farming, agricultural supply chain for rice would be “from farmers to intermediate silos, from silos to transformation plants, and from transformation plants to clients”.
Additionally, a holistic supply chain of system executing delivery of this product includes primary suppliers of paddy to be farmers as well as “middlemen, processing industries, distributors and retailers” to deliver to customers (Zahrah et al. 2021). Rice in UK was mainly exported via shipment and cargo from Asian countries.
However, recent issues such as COVID-19 disrupting national and international transactions have created issues for supply chains that have been facing unprecedented challenges in transportation (Hasan et al. 2022). Therefore UK legal bodies along with the government monitor the risk and work collaboratively with the rice industry in responding to the emerging challenges (Mustchin and Martínez Lucio, 2020).
This is for maintaining the supply chain by maintaining standardisation of non-EU ports and EU ports managing overall rice supply chain management opportunities for rice importing and exporting activities. Furthermore, “UK rice supply chain” includes the primary producers, rice manufacturing departments, logistics, retail and wholesale along with rice services on a global scale.
2. Supply chain diagram
Figure 2: Rice supply chain with its upstream and downstream process
(Source: Inspired by Gligor et al. 2022)
A typical supply chain of rice begins with farmers focusing on cultivation of rice, processing it and selling it to nearby markets. Supply chain operations including upstream include those in which the raw materials flow whereas downstream include the materials mostly in the form of finished goods to the customers (Gligor et al. 2022). The “upstream” of rice supply chain management activities has included collection of raw materials such as necessities for ploughing rice as well as management of production cost for maintaining good quality of rice. The “downstream” operations in rice supply chain management activities have included end processes of supply chain of inventory management, demand consolidation and exporting activities. Organised nature between suppliers in upstream as well as downstream activities holistically depending on farmers has assisted in maintaining effective approaches of supply chain management activities (Raja Santhi and Muthuswamy, 2022). Maintaining a globalised nature of increasing demand and delivering to customers has increased opportunities for farmers around the world to enhance their production activities in modern times. This has increased focus on shortening time related to upstreaming and downstreaming of rice production and managing lowest cost possible as well.
3. Factors within design of the supply chain
4. Describe the inventory management practices implemented across the supply chain
Inventory management within the rice includes the process of maintaining and monitoring stock levels of from each within a commercial setting. However a rice distribution parties stores its products within a warehouse before making a shipment to the customers on a global platform. Therefore, inventory management is highly significant for the rice distribution and processing industry as large amounts of rice products are specifically stored (Jagtap et al. 2020). Additionally, the primary focus of inventory management throughout the rice supply chain is within the distribution and processing for perishable rices.
Inventory management within the rice includes “ploghing”, “ordering”, “receiving”, “storing” and “distribution” pactices. An efficient rice inventory management can help a business to keep a track of the rice stocks by further minimising waste. This is by making sure by production of safe and fresh rice products. Inventory management that includes the manual processes specifically includes the paper records like manual stock taking in efficient spreadsheets (Pigera et al. 2022). However, automatic systems include the rice inventory management software for managing and tracking the stock levels. Therefore, the system that is automatic within the inventory management of the rice can provide businesses with gaining real time data insights on inventory levels.
5. Explain the impact of external events (e.g. COVID-19, Ukraine-Russia war) on the Supply, demand, and inventory of the product chosen
The pandemic of COVID-19 created a negative impact within the global economy. However, in considering the rice supply chain a significant sector of the economy has been going through with the impact of COVID-19 in its whole process from the suppliers to the consumers (Din et al. 2022). Therefore, farmers facing challenges of rice production and processing along with demand and distribution management have increased issues related to effective supply chain operation management for rice. The result of COVID-19 included restrictions on the movement of workers. It also included restrictions within the rice trade policies along with the change in consumer demand. For security purposes rice production facilities were closed that created additional financial pressure within the global supply chain. The government has been facilitating the movement of the labourers along with the agri-rice products. As rice is one of the most traded goods, the conflict in the Ukraine has been creating significant risk throughout the global rice supply chain (Jagtap et al. 2022). This is after the impact of COVID-19 in disrupting rice supply chain and creating challenges in atteding to customer demand overall. The global market however has been watching an increase in the rice prices. But the Russian Ukraine conflict has been adversely impacting the RICE with its significant impact on manufacturing, sourcing, production, logistics and processing.
6. Recommendations for improving supply chain
Rice supply chain can be improved by automation of demand planning. Decreasing availability of rice as a product has created panic among customers regarding buying rice during the pandemic of COVID-19. Customers starting to store rice have created false demand in market. On the other hand, the suppliers were not provided with enough stock regarding empty sales within the retailers end. Therefore, supply chain management for improving their predictive capabilities would be beneficial for future operations. Innovative methods are used in demand sensing such as data, ML and AL processing and capturing for accurate demand forecasts (Sheng et al. 2021). Further, improving the “supply chain traceability” would be beneficial in improving the sustainability of the rice supply chain around the world.
Another significant way by which rice supply chain can be included is by improving the network relationship with the suppliers. However, this includes understanding the relationships by establishing an understanding that is mutual for analysing the missions, goals, vision of the suppliers. Additionally, improving relations with suppliers can help in creating a strategic alignment with the suppliers which is highly significant for fulfilling changing customer demands (Qu and Liu, 2022). Furthermore, the suppliers can be encouraged by providing them with digital solutions. This can improve visibility across the “vertical supply chain” for suppliers around Asia, Europe and South America.
References
Chitrakar, B., Zhang, M. and Bhandari, B., 2021. Improvement strategies of rice supply chain through novel rice processing technologies during COVID-19 pandemic. Rice Control, 125, p.108010.
Din, A.U., Han, H., Ariza-Montes, A., Vega-Muñoz, A., Raposo, A. and Mohapatra, S., (2022). The impact of COVID-19 on the rice supply chain and the role of e-commerce for rice purchasing. Sustainability, 14(5), p.3074.
Gligor, D.M., Davis‐Sramek, B., Tan, A., Vitale, A., Russo, I., Golgeci, I. and Wan, X., (2022). Utilizing blockchain technology for supply chain transparency: A resource orchestration perspective. Journal of Business Logistics, 43(1), pp.140-159.
Hasan, F., Islam, M.R. and Ishrat, F., 2022. COVID-19 pandemic impact on the supply chains of UK-Based multinational manufacturing companies.
Jagtap, S., Bader, F., Garcia-Garcia, G., Trollman, H., Fadiji, T. and Salonitis, K., (2020). Rice logistics 4.0: Opportunities and challenges. Logistics, 5(1), p.2.
Jagtap, S., Trollman, H., Trollman, F., Garcia-Garcia, G., Parra-López, C., Duong, L., Martindale, W., Munekata, P.E., Lorenzo, J.M., Hdaifeh, A. and Hassoun, A., (2022). The Russia-Ukraine conflict: Its implications for the global rice supply chains. Rices, 11(14), p.2098.
Mustchin, S. and Martínez Lucio, M., (2020). The evolving nature of labour inspection, enforcement of employment rights and the regulatory reach of the state in Britain. Journal of Industrial Relations, 62(5), pp.735-757.
Pigera, A.I.H., Senarathna, P.P., Dodanduwa, D.L.H.S.D., Amarakoon, G.A.M.T.S.B., De Silva, D.I. and Vidhanaarchchi, S., (2022). Sales and production management system and reporting using centralized database system. International Journal Of Engineering And Management Research, 12(5), pp.512-516.
Qu, K. and Liu, Z., (2022). Green innovations, supply chain integration and green information system: A model of moderation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 339, p.130557.
Raja Santhi, A. and Muthuswamy, P., (2022). Influence of blockchain technology in manufacturing supply chain and logistics. Logistics, 6(1), p.15.
Sheng, J., Amankwah‐Amoah, J., Khan, Z. and Wang, X., (2021). COVID‐19 pandemic in the new era of big data analytics: Methodological innovations and future research directions. British Journal of Management, 32(4), pp.1164-1183.
Zahrah, D.S., Arkeman, Y. and Indrawan, D., (2021). Traceability system model rice supply chain during the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Research and Review, 8(3), pp.247-59.
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