The ultimate goal of a business is to maintain or enhance customer satisfaction by providing customers what they want, when they want it, and where they want it.

To gain skills in managing supply chain, participate in the Supply Chain Management Course delivered by pdtraining in Melbourne, Perth and other cities in Australia.

Customer satisfaction is at the core of a business because its sustenance and growth depends upon customers. To keep customers satisfied, businesses need to keep providing them with value. Even though the quality of the product or the service, and its pricing, plays a large role in customer satisfaction, availability of the product or service is crucial. If a customer wants to purchase the product, but it is not available at stores, then the customer is forced to choose another product. Such losses adversely affect profits and the company also risks losing customers to competition.

Factors Affecting Supply Chain

A strong and flexible supply chain ensures that demand is met at all times. Fluctuations in demand are adjusted so customers can find the product available in the market when they wish to purchase it. Even though it sounds simple, management of supply chain is complex due to the presence of various variable factors affecting it. Some of the major factors affecting a supply chain are:

• Suppliers – Suppliers must provide the raw material on time and make adjustments according to demand.
• Transportation – Lapses in transportation may cause delays that lead to unavailability of a product for a certain duration.
• Lack of Communication – Poor, or ineffective, communication channels may cause confusion, misunderstandings and chaos.
• Planning – Lack of proper planning can lead to missed deadlines, errors in management, and misplacement of responsibilities.

To be able to meet customer demand and expectations, there must not be deterioration in the quality of the product or service, or availability. To achieve that, effective planning, organising, and management becomes essential.

Meeting Customer Demand

If demand remains stable, then it is easy for companies to satisfy it, but demand is not always stable. Demand may change according to season, competition, economy, and customer expectations. As demand is fickle, supply chains need to be strong and flexible enough to adjust to the changes.

There are certain changes in demand that can be predicted. For instance, if the economy is seeing a depression, then demand is expected to drop. On the other hand, certain changes are sudden, such as the new presence of a big competitor in the market or changes in government policies. Sudden changes can lead to an unexpected hike or drop in demand. To be able to meet it, companies need to plan to deal with such changes, and create systems that can be activated to meet the sudden demand.

For ensuring customer satisfaction irrespective of changes, whether sudden or expected, proper planning, creation of effective communication channels, good management, and alignment of various factors affecting supply chains is required.

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Pdtraining delivers 1000’s of professional development courses each year in Brisbane, Sydney, Parramatta, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra and Perth, so you can be assured your training will be delivered by a qualified and experienced trainer.

All public Supply Chain Management courses include am/pm tea, lunch, printed courseware and a certificate of completion. Customised courses are available upon request so please contact pdtraining on 1300 121 400 to learn more.