Essay on Adidas Supply Chain
Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution is extensive and varied with a detailed and systematic approach. Supply chain and Adidas distribution entail a detailed and systematic approach to manage the relationship with the supply chain intermediaries. A supply chain is the network of individuals, organizations, resources, activities, and technology involved in the production and the sale of the product, starting from the delivery of the material from the supplied to the manufacturer. The supply chain involves delivering the finished product from the manufacturer to the consumers, which is known as a distribution channel. Three main flows of supply chain management are the product flow, the information flow, and the finances flow.
Therefore, supply chain management is a process and activity of sourcing the raw materials by an enterprise to create a product or service and delivering that product to the final consumers or customers.
Components of Supply Chain Management
Components of supply chain management are
- Planning
- Information
- Source
- Inventory
- Production
- Location
- Transportation
- Return of goods
About Adidas Sully Chain Management
Adidas is a prominent player in the industry with a large market base and a robust sales and distribution network worldwide. Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution network has made several important changes regarding the operations marketing and supply chain strategies during recent years. These changes have brought rising sales and revenue to the company. Moreover, the organization has formulated a great Adidas supply chain strategy and Adidas distribution network, ensuring high-quality standards, high availability, and timely delivery at competitive prices. Agile Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution network have led to an increase in the number of customer touchpoints over the years. Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution network have played a major role and a central pillar in driving speed and performance of the company. Improved Adidas supply chain and distribution network have helped to satisfy customers’ demand and has proved self-innovative and smart.
Points of Supply Chain Management
Some of the main processes of Adidas supply chain are:
Customer relationship management: Identifying important customers or customer groups and the value added by them.
Customer service Management: It facilitates interactions with the customers and managing the customers in an organized manner.
Manufacturing flow management: All the activities which are related to the production process, storing, and transporting them through the plants. Adidas product tracking system makes Adidas supply chain management the best among the industry.
Supplier relationship management: Adidas focuses on developing and maintaining good relations with suppliers to have a strong Adidas supply chain management structure.
Demand management: It deals in meeting the demands by getting an insight into what the customer wants.
Product development and commercialization: It helps in developing a framework to co-ordinate with the supplies and the customers to develop new products and make them readily available in the market.
Adidas Supply Chain Approaches
- Besides Adidas employees and the supplier factories, they also play a central role in the Adidas sustainability program. Adidas focuses on the working conditions and well- being, which resulted in stabilizing the workplace through standards and the supply chain code of conduct. It covers workers’ health and safety and also provisions regarding environmentally sound factory operations. Adidas have multi-level monitoring and enforcement processes to enforce such workplace standards and supply chain codes of conduct. It includes the use of an innovative rating system for the assessment of the suppliers, helping to determine whether to continue the business relationship with the specific suppliers. Transparency in sourcing decisions has been a fundamental success to drive improvements not only in the workplace but also in the supply chain.
- Another approach related to Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution is working closely with the key strategic partners. The majority of the products produced around the world, and therefore Adidas focuses on creating value long-term relationships with the key strategic partners. For a robust Adidas supply chain management and Adidas distribution, the supplier relationship’s length is determined by the specific performance criteria that are regularly reviewed and measured.
- Adidas outsources its products and collaborates with about one thousand firms that manufacture the products in 61 countries. Adidas, therefore, has multilayered Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution network with different business partners. Some of the Adidas supply chain partners are directly connected, and some are just suppliers of essential materials. Interestingly Adidas is one of the firms in the industry that reveals its supplier list and is committed to transparency and public disclosure to guarantee corporate social responsibility. Moreover, to have a robust Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution network, it maintains an open relationship with the suppliers that helps the firm to achieve its goal.
- Adidas is also planning to maintain supply relations to end the year with a reasonable and healthy inventory. It would not only help in preserving long term relationships with the suppliers but also would help in building a more robust Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution network.
- Adidas has listed Adidas supply chain responsibilities in the awake of COVID-19 destruction to both Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution network. Along with Adidas supply chain responsibility Adidas also is focusing on the financial viability and health and safety of the individuals associated with the organization.
- Moreover, Adidas supply chain is moving production facilities closer to the target market and has introduced a speed-factory initiative. The speed concept of supply chain is built on three pillars which are:
Never out of stock: Adidas supply chain focuses on continuous reproduction and replenishment that ensure that the most desired products are never out of stock and unavailable to the customers every time. This not only facilitates establishing a robust Adidas supply chain but also helps in brand building its brand image and the customer base.
Planned responsiveness: Adidas also focuses on responding to the seasonal demands with the shorter lead time. The organization responds to seasonal demands by analyzing demand rates through the point of sale trends.
In season creation: Producing product ranges during a particular season by capturing and analyzing the latest trends along with maintaining freshness is one of the prominent strategies undertaken by Adidas to increase its sales as well as increasing and capturing untapped markets.
Adidas Distribution Strategy
Transforming the marketplace: An effective sound distribution strategy is by converting desires into profitable and sustainable business growth. To have a robust Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution, the companies strive to transform by actively accelerating the growth of the organization’s profitable and integrated trade network.
Driving operational excellence across the global market: To have a strong Adidas supply chain and supply distribution network, Adidas comprises of centralized and integrated teams that support the flawless execution of the brand strategies and operational excellence.
Seamless customer journey: Adidas, in terms of Adidas distribution, has an unmatched network of consumer touchpoints by having more than 2,500 in retail stores, 15,000 branded franchises and 150,000 wholesalers.
Premium consumer experience: Apart from focusing on Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution, Adidas aims to be omnipresent and strive to capture full sales potential in the marketplace. Adidas focuses on offering innovative solutions in terms of Adidas distribution Omni channel initiatives like:
- Inventory check that allows the shoppers to view in-store product availability.
- Click and collect allows the individual to order and purchase online.
- Another innovative solution of Adidas distribution omnichannel initiative is to ship from the store, which allows serving consumers faster than before in turning the stores into mini distribution centers.
- Partner programs also facilitate in robust Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution network. It enables the organization to expand the online offering much extensively and to a much larger group of consumers by making the products available through selected key wholesale partners.
Key Flows in Adidas Supply Chain
Adidas has developed effective product flows through a robust Adidas supply chain management process.
Through production planning and demand planning, the organization ensures that the optimum number of items are produced within the factories. The demand planning process of Adidas supply chain management determines the statistical forecast through the gathering of customer-specific information from the order history. The data obtained from the demand planning process aids the company in the Adidas supply chain management and planning process, including the production process planning.
As soon the production planning processes are complete, the information is advanced to the manufacturing process. Based on this, a detailed production schedule is laid out with regard to the information provided by the production process. Further, in the Adidas supply chain management process, the information moves from the manufacturing department to the distribution department for inventory deployment and customer order fulfillment. A structured information flow system of Adidas supply chain management ensures that every department receives the required information on time, adhering to the sequence of the information to be traveled in a structured manner. As Adidas operates globally and has a huge Adidas supply chain and distribution network, a single loss of information would affect the entire Adidas supply chain management process.
The cash flow is between the customer to the retailer through the invoicing system, which can be in electronic or cash form. The retailer receives an invoice from the distributors and cash flows from the retailer to the distributor. Further from the distributor’s hands, the cash flows to the manufacturer, who has an agreement with the supplier.
Also, the organization focuses on the Adidas supply chain process to protect the country’s environmental, economic, and social laws. Adidas supply chain management ensures to implement a mechanism that would help up in preserving the environmental, social, and economic laws related to supply chain management. Framing and implementing sound Adidas supply chain and Adidas distribution strategy has led the company to reach new heights.
