Careers in Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management is required by all forms of businesses, including e-commerce and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). Small companies may have only one employee to handle these responsibilities, while large organisations may have an entire logistics and supply chain management department.

Let us get into details about Careers in Supply Chain Management!

What is Supply Chain Management?

Supply Chain Management is the method of effectively and efficiently maintaining a chain of processes that are used to satisfy the consumer demand for a product or service. These processes include sourcing, distribution, warehouse, inventories, and others. It appears to be a lucrative field with a lot of potential in India, with businesses looking to recruit SCM professionals as the ones who will push the company forward.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Supply Chain Professionals work with Sales, Operations, and Customer Service departments to prepare and execute the overall supply chain strategy.
• They make recommendations for process changes and quickly find and incorporate solutions.
• Supply Chain Professionals provide positive input and collaborate with the finance, distribution, and manufacturing teams to find the right vendors and distributors.
• They cultivate and maintain positive relationships with vendors while also managing costs and ensuring quality.
• They also lead and inspire a team of supply chain employees who are tasked with enhancing overall supply chain efficiency and seeking out new ideas.

What skills do I need?

People with inquisitiveness and a willingness to understand patterns and trends within data are especially employable. Simulation, modelling, forecasting, problem solving, and negotiating skills, as well as the ability to think on your feet under pressure, are extremely useful. It’s also important to be able to respond calmly and thoughtfully to new situations.

Successful candidates must be able to comprehend the highly nuanced technological dimensions of supply chains and communicate them clearly and succinctly to non-technical colleagues and customers. Graduates who grew up in the internet age would be well-positioned to comprehend the complexities of the internet.

Job Roles

Some of the job roles you can expect after gaining sufficient knowledge about this field are –

Purchase Manager

A purchasing director or supply manager is another name for a purchase manager. The Manager’s job is to find the best possible quality at the lowest price when purchasing products and services for resale or company use. The procurement manager’s duties differ depending on the sector.

Strategic Planner

Strategic planning for medium and large businesses is the responsibility of a strategic planner. As part of their responsibilities, Strategic Planners must be familiar with all facets of their employer’s business and present strategic proposals to senior decision makers. A strategic planner’s job is a white-collar, entry-level role. After gaining experience and demonstrating progress, a senior strategic planner can be promoted to lead their own team.

Materials Analyst

A material analyst is responsible for ensuring that products flow smoothly between a company’s distribution chains. A materials analyst assists a company with a variety of activities. He ensures that a company’s inventory is up to date and adequate to support any potential ventures the company wishes to pursue. He creates annual plans for a company’s raw material acquisition.

Supply Chain Manager

In the production phase, the supply chain manager is crucial. Supply chain managers, or SCMs, have an effect on their businesses from the beginning of the new product production process to the time the finished product is delivered by lending their expertise to designing methods to improve safety, performance, and productivity.

Warehousing Manager

Warehouse managers are in charge of receiving, storing, and dispatching a variety of items. You’ll manage staff, procedures, and systems to ensure that supplies are received and dispatched correctly, and that productivity goals are reached, as part of a critical part of the supply chain process.

Market Demand for Supply Chain Management

According to Fortune and Materials Handling Institute Supply Chain Management positions will grow at nearly 270,000 opportunities per year There is greater demand for Supply Chain professionals than supply There are exciting career opportunities as a Logistics Manager, Supply Chain Analyst, Purchasing Manager. Candidates in Logistics and SCM will get employment in companies like DHL, TNT, Mahindra Logistics, Gati KWE Pvt Ltd, Flipkart, Snapdeal etc.

If you want to work in supply chain management, you must be devoted to professional development. You’ll be expected to develop your knowledge and skills throughout your career by attending training classes, speaking at conferences, and networking events.

Membership in a professional association, such as the CIPS or the CILT, is beneficial and shows dedication to the field. Membership also gives you access to a variety of technical credentials and training courses that will help you keep up with your continuing education.

Average Salary

As these new opportunities arise and the position of supply chain and logistics becomes increasingly important, the demand for top talent to serve as strategic leaders is likely to rise, resulting in competitive salaries, especially at the manager level and higher.

According to ASCM’s 2020 Supply Chain Salary and Career Survey Study, supply chain wages have a bright future. According to the ASCM Survey Study, supply chain practitioners with at least a bachelor’s degree earn a median salary of $78,750. It’s a statistic that’s 24% higher than the national median wage.

If you move up the supply chain career ladder, your earning capacity increases, with six-figure salaries not uncommon for those in management or higher positions. Although supply chain wages are still competitive, incentives, profit sharing, and other types of additional cash compensation are the standard, with 91 percent of respondents to ASCM’s Survey Report saying they earned some sort of bonus, profit sharing, or other form of additional cash compensation.

Future Trends

Gaining experience, qualifications, and technical certifications can all affect salary, so continuing your education as you progress in your career can add up. According to the ASCM Survey Report, supply chain practitioners with a master’s degree or higher received a median salary of $95,750. Finally, if you need a certificate program or a degree program, your experience and career goals will help you decide the best program for your supply chain management career.
Supply chain management is a field poised to develop and change, with a range of fields and specialties in which to pursue a career, higher-than-average wages, and opportunities for promotion and career development.

Resources for Supply Chain Management

You must first establish a stable foundation before you can become an expert in those fields. And you’ll need to have the right applied skills before you can move on to the practical teaching. You may use the following tools to get a complete understanding of the domain:

• Firstly, Online Tutorials for Supply Chain Management
• Also, Certification Courses from verified sources such as Vskills, Coursera, Udemy and so on.
• In addition, Online communities
• Moreover, Blogs and study material from experts in this field and many more.

Here are some examples of how you can improve your abilities:

• Freelancing
• Internships
• Apprenticeship programs

The above steps will help you to get this domain started. It’s a long way to go, however. You can take an advanced course to reach a new level of skills.

Discover the career opportunities and other prospects of career in Supply Chain Management. Hurry up and start preparing now with Vskills.in!