Most of us always buy products from vending machines. If we're busy going to class, work, and even going out with friends, we end up buying a product from a vending machine. Bottled water for example is a common product most of us would buy from a vending machine. How is that these bottled waters get into those vending machines? It is through supply chain managers who help get these bottled waters into the vending machines, so that everyday people can buy bottled water from these vending machines. There is a series of steps that supply chain managers deal with to get these bottled waters into the vending machines. First, supply chain managers need to negotiate the purchase of these empty bottled waters and caps. The bottled waters and caps are then placed into boxes and will then have to be shrink wrapped, so that the they don't fall out. The boxes are then put on pallets, so that they can be moved easily. In order to move the pallets, you will need a forklift, which means that you will need a fork lift driver. The role of the forklift is to move the boxes on the pallets to a truck. After the bottled waters and caps are put on the truck, the truck will take them to the plant. Most importantly, the bottled water will need a label. The supply chain managers are In this plant, there will be employees, bottling machines, and day to day items such as light bulbs and janitorial supplies. Also, there will be access to the drinking water. Machines will purify the water and other machines will bottle the water and fix the labels on the water. There will be other machines that will box,shrink wrap, and palatize the bottle of waters. In order to move these boxes that are palatize, we will need forklifts and forklift drivers that will moves them onto trucks. The trucks will need drivers to move these bottled waters into distribution centers. From the distribution centers, they will head out to retail stores from a truck will need a driver. The retail stores will need employees to unload the truck, stock the bottled waters on the shelf or the refrigerator. The trucks, insurance for the trucks, forklifts, the forklift drivers, energy, and fuel all cost money and the employees of the bottled water company need a paycheck too. It is the job of the supply chain managers to get all these done effectively and efficiently. Basically, the logistics, planning, and distributing of the bottled waters are all the responsibilities that come with a supply chain manager. This concept is way more different than actually reading about supply chain management because this is a much simpler and more easily understandable concept than reading articulate scholarly articles and journals on supply chain management and how supply chain companies work. It would be awesome to job-shadow a supply chain manager who deals and is responsible for the logistical process to work.
Works Cited
Wpcareyschool. "Module 1: What Is Supply Chain Management? (ASU-WPC-SCM)." YouTube. YouTube, 06 Apr. 2010. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi1QBxVjZAw>.
I like how you picked something that everyone is aware of (vending machines, bottled water) and broke it down into something that we, as the reader could easily understand!
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