What should a supply chain manager know? The skills you need

• What do supply chain managers do?
• The skills you’ll need to have to be a supply chain manager in New Zealand
• The qualifications you’ll need to be a supply chain manager in New Zealand
• How much do supply chain managers get paid in New Zealand?

Working as a supply chain manager is a varied role, with significant responsibility for the smooth operation of the organisation. Among the core duties of this position are:

• Organising, managing and overseeing the entire lifecycle of the company’s product(s). This includes all the logistics involved in production and distribution of the goods.
• Developing and maintaining relationships with both clients and suppliers through excellent networking skills.
• Conducting reviews of systems and processes to ensure efficiency is maximised at all stages along the product journey.
• Directing the allocation of input materials, as well as the finished products.
• Leading the team and ensuring personnel in different departments are working well together.

As a supply chain manager, you’ll be dealing with many different organisations, shipping all sorts of goods and services. This will involve understanding all your contractual obligations, both to the company, and its customers, 

If you’re shipping overseas, you’ll also need to be aware of the laws regarding the shipment of specific goods to other territories. At all times, the emphasis is on remaining compliant, wherever the goods and services you’re transporting will end up.

As a supply chain manager, there are two prongs to good customer service, although in reality they are one and the same.

Firstly, you need to keep your B2B clients happy. This is where good inventory management is key, as a surefire way to lose custom is by not having the stock required to supply their customers. Prompt communication and problem solving will also endear you to your business clients, so that they feel you’re really working together to help fulfill their business objectives.

Secondly, you need to understand what the ultimate customer expects from you. We live in a world of instant gratification, and modern shoppers have high standards when it comes to ordering products for delivery. Therefore, understanding the latest trends in consumer habits, and streamlining your service to provide best-in-class results, will do your bottom line the world of good.

We’ve talked a lot about the hard skills needed for supply chain management, but more broad brush, soft skills also have a crucial part to play. Perhaps chief among these is project management.

While you won’t be physically involved with every step in the process of delivering a project or service from source to customer, you’ll need to have clear oversight of what is happening at any given stage. This will involve:

• Scheduling capabilities that ensure everything runs on time.
• Budgeting so that you have just the right amount of resources, with no wastage.
• Regular communication with all the relevant stakeholders.
• Attention to detail and the ability to retain information.
• Leadership skills that allow you to communicate and delegate tasks to the right people.

Another crucial soft skill supply chain managers need is flexibility. As one link in a chain connecting businesses to their customers, there’s plenty of scope for even the best-laid plans to go astray from time-to-time. As such, you’ll need to be able to think on your feet, and react well to sudden changes in how things will move forward.

Of course, a good first step here is to be ready for surprises . Contingency planning will allow you to put into action a playbook of potential solutions that you can enact or adapt to as unexpected circumstances will inevitably crop up.

NZ employers seeking supply chain managers will often be open to candidates from a range of different backgrounds. However, there are specific courses you can take that will help you to stand out from the crowd in this field.

Many New Zealand universities and polytechnics offer specific programs tailored to supply chain management, logistics, business administration and other related subjects. All of these would certainly look good on a CV when applying to supply chain management roles.