In the aerospace and defense industries, supply chains have grown increasingly complex. Organizations that want to continue lowering costs and increasing productivity must find ways to improve supply chain efficiency. By reducing complexity and increasing coordination, supply chain integration helps organizations achieve their operational goals.
Whether you plan to expand horizontally or vertically, integrating your supply chain can require a significant investment of time and resources. At NTS Unitek, we can design and implement a supply chain integration strategy on your behalf, allowing you to focus on the core competencies of your organization.
What Is Supply Chain Integration?
Supply chain integration is a business strategy that involves connecting as many of the links in an organization’s supply chain as possible. Integration can entail one firm acquiring other firms or simply increasing the level of communication and coordination between entities. The ultimate goal of the process is for every element in the entire supply chain to work smoothly together to achieve a common goal.
When done properly, supply chain integration benefits suppliers as well as customers, since increased cooperation means steady, reliable business and fewer uncertainties for everyone involved.
Horizontal and Vertical Integration
There are two types of supply chain integration. Horizontal integration involves buying or cooperating with competitors. Vertical integration, on the other hand, involves acquiring or working closely with organizations above and below your business’s position in the supply chain. Vertical integration can allow you to handle more aspects of production internally, so this is the type of integration most beneficial for OEMs in technical industries.
What Are the Benefits of an Integrated Supply Chain?
Whether you are interested in acquiring a supplier or improving communication at every step in the supply chain, integration can provide the following benefits:
- Cost savings: The integration process optimizes your supply chain, cutting out unnecessary middlemen, reducing wasted material and eliminating supplier redundancy. As a result, you could see significant savings that enable you to lower prices and gain a competitive edge.
- Reduced risk: Supply chain integration increases the level of communication you have with other organizations in your supply chain. This means that suppliers can alert you immediately when problems occur, allowing you to avoid disruption and reduce overall risk.
- Improved production: An integrated supply chain increases transparency and gives you greater control over every aspect of production, allowing you to closely monitor product development and specification compliance.
Our Supply Chain Integration Process
At NTS Unitek, we offer supply chain assessments and supply chain management services for mid-sized and larger organizations in a range of challenging sectors. We start by getting to know your organization’s supply chain needs and goals. Then, we’ll help you develop a plan to accomplish your goals and guide its implementation.
We keep our customers fully informed throughout the supply chain assessment process and assign a dedicated project manager to each client, so you will always have a clear understanding of the process.
Learn More About Our Supply Chain Management Services
We have over 45 years of experience helping organizations improve efficiency and reduce risk through supply chain integration. To learn more about the services we offer, reach out to us today.
