X
The consumer electronics market in India is flourishing, with telephony as the largest market segment. Prominent brands like Havells, Wipro, and Bosch have set up massive manufacturing units in the country for products that sell globally.
But, when considering the current inflation rate in the country (7.04% as of May 2022), companies need to have a proactive and calculative approach to handling their business. Factoring in the economic conditions, smart digitalization for cost reduction is the need of the hour.
To match the world-class standards of quality and effective pricing, it is crucial for consumer electronics companies to maintain supply chain visibility across all departments. Supply chain visibility is the potential to track and monitor all supply chain processes from the beginning to the end in real time.
This prevents any unforeseen circumstances from coming up and spiking up the overall cost. It also creates a transparent network from the warehouse to the market, with better strategy and enhanced customer satisfaction.
Most consumer electronics companies come across the following noteworthy challenges in the absence of complete supply chain visibility:
Customers worldwide are now engaging with macro and micro trends like digitalization, adoption of the latest technology, and faster delivery. Companies have to adapt to these micro-trends to match the pace of an increasingly impatient customer base.
In light of these trends, consumer electronics companies are inching towards prompt and automated operations. The first step towards achieving success with all these attempts is ensuring supply chain visibility.
Investing in technology solutions that ensure data analytics and modern technology integration alongside curated insights can be a game-changer for consumer electronics businesses. Factory automation and supply chain management with the help of insights promise increased visibility from manufacturing to delivery.
Here's a practical guide that consumer electronics companies can follow to achieve and leverage complete supply chain visibility:
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology implemented through RFID tags makes tracking every item across its retail journey easy. Using such technology from the component level allows the collection of real-time data on vendors, raw materials, and suppliers.
Companies can use portals and dashboards for advanced vendor management, improve the production plan, and hasten delivery. Supply chain management solutions also offer digital challan creation and several tools for efficient recall management. Creating digital footprints right from the start ensures that there are no lapses throughout the supply chain.
With a digital record of the assembly line data, consumer electronics companies can improve their product quality over time and ensure compliance with all quality standards.
They can achieve supply chain visibility on the plant floor by tracking each component from the unit level. If any component shows defects or the product quality deters at any stage, it can be quickly recognized and addressed.
Well-maintained digital records and insights keep the manufacturing and supply chain process transparent.
One of the most critical locations - the warehouse, witnesses great inward and outward movement for stock fulfillment and product dispatch. Automating this process can save businesses from unwanted human errors and increase efficiency.
Supply chain management solutions can help consumer electronics companies operate faster by managing the database on putting away, cubing, kitting and order picking from the warehouse.
With the help of RFID technology, it gets easier to organize the inventory and make on-time dispatch smoother. If companies can leverage technology, their workforce efficiency maximizes with more intelligent job allocation.
Most businesses believe that supply chain visibility helps only in the warehouse and plant floor. But they skip the vital part of logistics. Consumer electronics companies can enable faster delivery and order fulfillment through technology to enhance supply chain visibility.
For instance, there are severe bottlenecks at the docking stations and throughout transit. As such, with enhanced traceability and visibility, scheduling can be improved, resulting in a faster turnaround time. Supply chain management solutions further reduce the involvement of paperwork and manual labor.
Tracking inventory in the stores makes it easier to offer spare management and servicing facilities. It also ensures that only brand original products reach the shelves and that the warranty claim process is fraud-proof. The real-time data insights can help improve a company's marketing strategy, product design, and quality as per the response and feedback.
Once consumer electronics companies can achieve this level of transparency and scrutiny, they can leverage real-time insights for business growth. The whole supply chain operation can be seamless with greater visibility, making compliance with rules and regulations more straightforward.
Heightened supply chain visibility accrues several benefits, including critical risk management, cost reduction, data control, insights-led approach, streamlined workflow, and customer satisfaction. Therefore, consumer electronics companies that can emerge as market leaders by offering superior products with seamless delivery will have a competitive advantage.
At QodeNext, we are building custom solutions for consumer electronics companies, catering to their specific operations and clientele. If you're looking for a partner to help you with supply chain visibility, data, analytics, and machine learning through RFID technology and other valuable solutions, connect with us right away!
