Integration
What is integration?
Integration is an act or instance of combining into an integral whole, improved integration leads to improved performance for every stage. Supply chain integration is a closed partnership and coordination with in a supply chain, this refers to everything needed to make a product from raw materials to manufacturing to shipping.
Internal integration- how the process with in the brand can become more efficient, this may be due to technology.
External integration- how can the external relationship be improved; this is down to the partners or suppliers outside the brand.
Internal integration improves performance of each division in a company, it does this by improving the information flow between each part of the company to make sure customer demand can be met. This means many brands which are part of the same company use the same transportation.
External integration is all about cooperation, co-ordination and collaboration and without this it would not be possible. It works between a small number of suppliers who work as one unit, sharing information and similar goals to reduce geographical distance with suppliers to increases their responsivity.
Advantages of integration
•Reduces waste
•Increases profit
•Improves efficiency across the supply chain
•Reduces stock holding
•Can adjust to customer demand
•Can improve product availability
Integration can go wrong or could not be unviable for small companies as it is not always easy to integrate supply chains. Companies may not want to share information necessary to integrate as this may involve them making their companies more vulnerable to the competition. This may cause trust issues between companies and brands making them less likely to want to collaborate. Integration could also cause huge issues if there was some kind of manufacturer failure as could potentially affect multiple brands. Due to brands being all over the world there may also be problems with communication due to language barrier. These brands may also have different goals making it hard to be flexible and independent to achieve these goals.
Probelms with integration
Depth Buissness