Finance and supply chain: These two essential business functions speak different languages and live in different worlds. Both contribute mightily to the success and the profitability of their companies, in their own ways. Manufacturers need to get them to synchronize if they are to survive and succeed — and to achieve the agility and the resilience everyone strives for coming out of the pandemic crisis.
Leaving finance and supply chain to plow their separate fields will impact negatively on a business. Emphasizing costs alone can undermine customer-service levels. Spending on premium transportation services, while sometimes necessary to satisfy customer demand, will put a dent in profitability if used inappropriately.
These days, the pandemic has blown to bits many an annual corporate budget. COVID-19 has profoundly impacted company fortunes, and not always for the worse. Some businesses have seen demand for their products skyrocket, and their spending and supply-chain expectations have been altered accordingly. How companies cope with this situation might provide an object lesson on how to proceed with the finance/supply chain alignment going forward.
The good news is that there are practices and procedures that can facilitate a successful working relationship between the two organizations.
Experts at QAD DynaSys, a provider of cloud-based digital supply-chain planning solutions, believe this alignment can play out by developing common terminologies, time frames, metrics, planning processes, and success criteria. When done right, aligning finance and supply chain creates a more dynamic, responsive, and profitable company.
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