1. The overall situation of German enterprise supply chain management
(1) Enterprises begin to realize the importance
In the German academic field, supply chain management generally refers to the process optimization of products from planning, supplier selection, procurement, production, transportation and distribution to repurchase for the needs of end customers. Logistics is a link in supply chain management. Supply chain management involves most of the value chain of commodities. It transcends the industry and requires close cooperation between all participants. The advantages of implementing supply chain management are to reduce procurement costs, shorten delivery times, reduce product inventory, and improve supplier loyalty and service levels.
The logistics management of German companies has gone through the following stages:
1970s (traditional logistics, the goal is to optimize the functions of each link): procurement-transportation, transshipment, storage-production-transportation, transshipment, storage-sales;
1980s (horizontal cross logistics, the goal is to optimize orders): procurement-traditional logistics-production-traditional logistics-marketing-customers;
In the 1990s (value chain integration of logistics, the goal is to optimize the value chain): customer orders-research and development (subcontracted to suppliers)-procurement (subcontracted to suppliers)-production (subcontracted to suppliers)- Distribution (subcontracting to suppliers)-recycling (subcontracting to suppliers)-customers;
21st century (global value chain integration of logistics, the goal is to establish and optimize the global network).
According to the survey, 81% of German companies believe that the implementation of supply chain management will improve their competitiveness. However, only more than 20% of enterprises have established effective supply chain management, because 95% of German enterprises are small and medium-sized enterprises. Large enterprises and larger and medium-sized enterprises attach more importance to supply chain management, while small enterprises are affected by their own scale and strength. Limited supply chain management is basically not established. According to statistics, 37-39% of large German companies do not yet have a strategic supply chain.
The total cost of supply chain management in Germany generally accounts for 7% of business turnover. The profit rate of companies that implement supply chain management is twice that of those that do not. Manufacturers of standard products that implement supply chain management have an average profit rate of 11%, and manufacturers of personalized products have an average profit rate of 9%.
Generally speaking, compared with countries with strong service industries such as the United States, German companies, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, still have a process of accepting the new thing of supply chain management in practice.
(2) Main practices of supply chain management enterprises
1. SCOR mode
Most of the companies that implement supply chain management in Germany are large-scale companies. They all have their own complete supply chains and manage and integrate themselves. The supply chain generally adopts the SCOR model. The SCOR model is recommended by the American Institute of Supply Management and can be used to optimize the current supply chain of enterprises. It transcends the boundaries of companies and departments, focuses on the upstream and downstream partnerships of the supply chain, and focuses on the strategic connections and efficient operations of related companies.
2. Contract logistics model
German contract logistics (Kontraktlogistik) is what the United Kingdom and the United States call third-party logistics (3pl), which is similar to Hong Kong's "Li & Fung model" from the perspective of contract executors. Simply put, contract logistics is a model in which manufacturers or retailers sign longer-term contracts with logistics companies to outsource the entire logistics process.
The contract logistics model is more popular in Germany, especially in the supply chain management of export-oriented enterprises. According to incomplete statistics from the Kompass corporate exchange website, there are more than 700 contract logistics companies in Germany, including not only large companies such as Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Bahn Schenker, Kühne&Nagel, Dachser and Fiege, but also small and medium-sized enterprises such as Grieshaber and Karldischinger. These companies generally sign contracts of 3-5 years with customers, and enter the customer's product value chain more deeply from the product planning stage, and create greater value for customers through their professional services. German contract logistics companies are mainly active in the automotive, textile, food and frozen products, and pharmaceutical industries. In 2008, the market size of German enterprise supply chain management was 81 billion euros, of which nearly 30% adopted the contract logistics model.
It is worth noting that the trend of outsourcing supply chain management for German companies has slowed down significantly. It reached its peak in 2005, when many companies outsourced the entire supply chain. However, according to a research report by the Federation of German Industries, the overall outsourcing of supply chain management did not increase in 2010, and some large companies reclaimed the part of supply chain management inside the enterprise.
(3) The country has no support measures
Germany is a typical market economy country, except for special circumstances (such as economic crisis), the government has less intervention in economic life. Specific to the supply chain management industry, the German government has no direct specific support measures.
2. Suggestions for China to develop supply chain management foreign trade enterprises
As the world's largest manufacturing country, we cannot always rely on the demographic dividend to lower labor costs. Moreover, the foreign trade environment facing my country is becoming less optimistic. The number of "dual anti-dumping" cases against China is increasing, and it is spreading from developed countries to developing countries. Our manufacturing companies must upgrade their industrial structure and strive to occupy the two high-ends of the global value chain, namely R&D and sales. We must strive to develop and promote the supply chain management and supply chain management enterprises of the enterprise. The competition in the 21st century may no longer be pure competition between enterprises, but competition between supply chains. The current trend is that with the deepening of globalization, companies are accelerating the pace of strategic alliances. We can consider:
(1) Large companies should strive to optimize their supply chains
Chinese companies are going out. We must see that with the rapid development of China's economy, our large enterprises have the strength to carry out global procurement. Our company must cultivate a global perspective and cannot just be satisfied with the order-production-export model. The former "two ends outside" processing model was a suitable model under the conditions at that time, but it could only bring the lowest part of the value chain, and could no longer meet the needs of industrial upgrading of foreign trade enterprises. Large companies need to be global
Strengthen research on supply chain links such as procurement, supplier selection, transportation and distribution, and even foreign seller selection, and strive to integrate resources to build a multinational enterprise. Large-scale transportation companies with natural advantages such as postal, railway, and aviation should strive to build their own supply chain management service departments or subsidiaries to become excellent third-party logistics providers based on their own advantages.
(2) SMEs must strive to integrate into the global supply chain
For small and medium-sized enterprises, limited by their own strength, the most realistic approach should be to locate them in the market and become a part of the supply chain of large local companies or foreign companies. Strive to obtain long-term and stable contracts to ensure that the company has a basis for planning future development.
(3) Make great efforts to pay attention to sustainable development issues
Sustainable development has become a worldwide topic. Multinational companies pay great attention to environmental protection, energy saving and emission reduction in order to maintain their image. Whether to obtain a certain green certificate has become a necessary review condition for multinational companies to select suppliers. Our company must pay attention to it and strive to become an environmentally friendly company.