Observation

• Often the primary source for cost reductions - if profit improvement or price reduction are critical business goals, then these concepts may provide the key,
• Less direct impact on sales and market share than the demand side concepts, except to fulfill the need to get the right product in the right place at the right time,
• Often easier for companies to work together to realise the benefits without getting into any issues regarding trading relationship.

Typical priorities

• Reliable operations: the "entry ticket" for any serious efforts to improve relationship between trading partners, after all who will want to work with an unreliable partner? This concept focuses on improvement in process and delivery reliability, both are equally important in improving overall reliability.
• Continuous Replenishment (CRP): drives inventory out of pipeline and permits mush faster response to unexpected shifts in shopper buying patterns. With CRP, actual consumer demand based on scanned data and sales forecast, drive replenishment orders and shipping.
• Integrated Suppliers: on an average, a third of the consumer price is related to the costs of ingredients and packaging and these suppliers frequently dictate downstream service levels. Successful partnerships between all players in the supply chain relay on the integration of key processes to facilitate information flow, which is so critical to all the players.
• Synchronised Production: when it is possible, the key to extremely rapid response, permitting production schedules to be more closely aligned with actual consumer demand. By moving towards shorter order lead times, manufacturers can reduce their dependency on longer range forecast data that is frequently wrong and results in unnecessary and inventory.