Introduction

In order to effectively establish a traditional approach towards logistics with respect to retail outlets for consumers, it is important to understand the concept of supply chain management and its characteristics. The five general steps of basic supply chain management are as follows:

1. RMA or Return Merchandise Authorization refers to receipt of defective and additional items.
2. Communication, coordinating, and delivering of all encompassed under logistics is crucial for creating an appropriate network of supply chain management.
3. Scheduling and manufacturing affairs for packaging, testing, delivery and production in alignment with the productivity of workers, sufficient levels of quality, and output of production on a whole (Vanichchinchai 2014).
4. Sourcing from various dependable suppliers for offering services and goods and also for sustaining the respective inventories that has been obtained from the suppliers that are done at the same time like that of supervising the metrics for regularly feasible enhancements.
5. Strategic planning that comprises of developing the metrics for efficiently supervising the chain of supply required for offering better quality services to the customers.

Therefore, with respect to the aforesaid, supply chain management can be regarded as a set of measures that are adopted to effectively integrate manufacturers and suppliers with distribution and warehousing centres. Furthermore, the supply chain management functional necessity illustrates the reduction of system wide expenses and the required satisfaction of service level needs. On a whole, the primary objective of supply chain management is to ensure the production and distribution of goods in adequate quantities and shipping of the same to the correct locations at the right time.

Supply chain management of Johnson Skin Care

The following flowchart highlights the distribution network of supply chain management of Johnson Skin Care, starting with the factories, regional and central warehouses, and transhipment points and ending with the retailers.

The structural traits of the consumer goods supply are as follows:

The functional traits of the supply chain of consumer goods are as follows:

Primary business procedures of supply chain

The three primary business procedures of supply chain management are manufacturing of products at a particular location or geographically distributed place, distribution and retail that comprises of warehousing, packaging and transportation, sourcing or procurement of components and raw materials from suppliers and thereafter, scheduling of delivery together with inventory management on a whole (Brody 2020). The 3 PL comes into a massive role in this segment. However, an alternative of direct shipping can also be taken into consideration but it is usually not recommended from this report’s viewpoint of managing the shipping requirements. The role of vertical and horizontal integration must also be taken into account to understand the supply chain management of Johnson Skin Care. The most common distinction betwixt these two integration is that horizontal integration always occurs at the same stage like that of the supply chain (Monroe 2017). However, vertical integration always occurs in betwixt the distinct stages of supply chain.

With respect to recommended network of supply chain under a multi echelon structure, it is to be noted that a supply chain network with stagnant functionality with respect to a multi-echelon structure is the serial multi echelon system. In other words, the supply chain managament is considered as being distinctively formed of various stages, each depicting the physical locations, affairs encompassed under processing and/or BOM (bill of materials). These stages or segments are then grouped into echelons. Nevertheless, the effective issues that develop in a supply chain are created by the control over such echelons by distinct contending parties with conflicting and competing interests and are catered to under the serial multi echelon system. Overall, this is regarded as an optimization method wherein positions of inventories at distinct echelons are presumed to be driven by a general process of demand (Monroe 2017).

With respect to recommended modification to supply chain management, a tightly encompassed supply chain with total control are some modifications that can be undertaken for effective management of supply chain. In contrast to this, the third party provider of logistics are at advantage in relation to minimization of expenses of network of supply, thereby reducing the aggregate expenses of transportation. In order to efficiently develop an appropriate strategy of logistics, the proper understanding and comprehension of inherent traits and factors becomes crucial (Brody 2020). Further, the segments of transportation and pricing are both related with the factors and traits liable for enhancing the expenses. Successful negotiation necessitates a total understanding of the concept of transportation. This means that attainment of a thorough understanding of the pricing and concept behind transportation becomes significant for reduction of expenses as it primarily revolves around four major factors i.e., ratings of transportation and rates, factors enhancing the cost of transportation, cost structure or classification, and the strategies of carrier pricing on a whole. Therefore, logistic managers must look for dealings with manufacturers and offer a significant business condition (Vanichchinchai 2014). Hence, addition of additional level of logistics in Johnson’s Skin Care Supply Chain Management shall play a key role in offering growth in its savings. In relation to the most crucial action plan, a serial multi-echelon is required to be implemented so that randomness and ineffectiveness that is generated from the decision of third parties of significant echelons of network of supply chains can be reduced.

Conclusion

With respect to the aforementioned flowchart, it can be seen that there are various recommendations of network of supply chain. Further, there are also suggestive modifications to the present structural network that has been appropriately highlighted. The functional and structural traits have also been discussed so that a traditional approach to logistics for consumers can be established in the case of Johnson Skin Care. It must also be noted that the role of supply chain management is very crucial in an organization as it offers various benefits in terms of integration, cooperation, and communication betwixt the dynamic signiifcant stages of the entire network of supply chain.

References

Brody, B. (2020). 4 High-Tech Tools Johnson & Johnson Is Using to Get Products to You During the Pandemic. Retrieved from: https://www.jnj.com/innovation/johnson-johnson-supply-chain-technology-during-coronavirus

Monroe, R. W. (2017). Analyzing inventory and primary resources in the supply chain: Integrating supply chain, analytics, and sustainability. Journal of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability, 12(2), 85-90. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/analyzing-inventory-primary-resources-supply/docview/1990802529/se-2?accountid=30552

Vanichchinchai, A. (2014). Supply chain management, supply performance and total quality management: An organizational characteristic analysis. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 22(2), 126-148. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-08-2011-0500