Supply Chain is the most complex system in the Automotive World and there are lot of uncertainties in this.Physical movement of goods from one place to another requires lot of co-ordination and effort and communication plays a very important role here.This is the area where lot of improvement is required.Some companies have tried to make it simple but still lot of improvement is required.To make it simple Entire Supply chain operations has been divided into three parts ie Inbound Transportation,Manufacturing and Outbound Transportation, even though as per the company’s need and culture there may be additional supporting Departments are there.
Inbound Transportation is very important in the Entire Supply Chain Process because if this department is not performing then it will impact the performance of the other departments as well.In OEM’s Inbound Transportation has maximum employees in terms of Purchasing,Supplier Quality Assurance Managers,, Monitoring of parts movements from one location to another and IT Department to take care of software issues.Communication is very important for this Department.
Manufacturing is the department which takes care of Assembly of Vehicle or processing of the components.Normally this department is dependent upon the input supply of the components,In case of OEM’s it is the supply of different parts in the assembly of vehicle and in case of Forging it is the input supply of the raw materials.
Outbound Transportation deals with the movement of finished goods from one location to the other.In case of OEM’s it the transfer of fully assembled vehicle to the dealer’s location or supply directly to the customer.In most of the companies this job is done by Marketing Department.