Job opportunities for a supply chain management graduate

Management of the movement of materials, information, and money associated with an item or service, from the acquisition of raw materials through the delivery of the thing at its final location, is known as supply chain management (SCM).

Business executives know that enhancing supply chain management may boost sales, product quality, and organisational effectiveness. You can develop leadership, time management, and attention to detail skills in a supply chain management career that will help you in future roles.

The PGCP in Logistics and Supply Chain Management is one of the most outstanding courses you may enrol in when faced with a variety of specialisations and alternatives, especially if you’re interested in learning about a company unit’s logistics and back-end operations.

In the vast business world, specific career paths and academic degrees are more well-known than others. Gaining a thorough grasp of the many pathways to pick from within supply chain management occupations and finally deciding where to develop your career might be a bit intimidating if you’re thinking about or starting a supply chain management career.

What is supply chain management?

At its most basic level, supply chain management (SCM) controls the movement of materials, information, and money associated with an item or service, from acquiring raw materials to delivering the goods at the ultimate location.

A supply chain management career involves all the processes, individuals, groups, businesses, data, and assets needed to transfer a product from its conception to its end-user. For instance, this would probably include raw materials, manufacture, packing, shipping, warehousing, delivery, and retailing in the case of consumer products.

Supply chain planning has always been a recurrent corporate activity. It will continue moving into the future. Future SCM systems will also improve planning and execution alignment, which is now lacking in most businesses.

The supply chain of today is no longer a straight path. Instead, it’s a multifaceted network infrastructure accessible around the clock. Customers want their orders delivered when they want them, and in the manner they desire, which is at the heart of these networks.

Usually, the input for the following step is the output of the previous phase. For instance, before the items can be produced, suppliers must supply raw ingredients to the producer. The chain as a whole is hampered if there is an issue at any point. All of this should be acknowledged if you’re interested in starting a supply chain management career.

Any firm producing goods and services must have a robust supply chain management department. Business executives know that enhancing supply chain management may boost sales, product quality, and organisational effectiveness. You might be a significant asset to any firm as a supply chain specialist and provide knowledge and skills that are in demand among workers.

Your abilities in a supply chain management career are easily transferable to various fields and businesses. You can develop leadership, and organisational skills, including attention to detail in supply chain management that will help you in future roles. For a general manager, teamwork, communication, and delegating are helpful abilities. If you pursue an entrepreneurial career, the skills you gain in a supply chain management career may also be beneficial.

Job opportunities for an SCM graduate

As a recent graduate, it is entirely up to you to decide on your area of specialisation. A PGCP in logistics and supply chain management is one of the most fantastic courses you may enrol in when faced with a variety of disciplines and alternatives, especially if you’re interested in learning about a company unit’s logistics and back-end operations. What kind of jobs are there in supply chain management?

• Warehousing Manager – During your supply chain management career, materials and supplies are often kept. You would handle this storage as the warehouse manager. To track when goods arrive, where they are situated inside the facility, and when they depart, it is frequently necessary to use some sort of computer-based system.

• Supply Chain Consultant – With an MBA in logistics and a supply chain management career, you may potentially launch your consulting firm. If you choose this path, businesses will be able to employ you to do an in-depth analysis of their supply chain, potentially revealing methods to boost its efficiency. Access to various sectors is one of the main advantages of working as a freelance supply chain consultant.

• Sales roles – To assist their client’s supply chain operations, third-party logistics service, 4PLs, and marine, aircraft, and overland carriers provide logistics services. They all do sales-related duties as a result. In a sales position with a logistics service provider, you will be exposed to every facet of a supply chain management career and their operations since you will be expected to comprehend the supply chains of your clients and help your firm.

• Purchasing Managers – The operations of an organisation’s acquisition of materials, goods, and services are managed by purchasing managers, also known as procurement managers. They are skilled at negotiating deals and building rapport with vendors.

• Logistics Analysts – When making judgments to enhance logistics procedures, logistics analysts examine data from the supply chain, product delivery, and warehousing operations. Analysts in logistics are employed by larger businesses like producers of consumer products. They could also be used by logistics firms or have areas of expertise, including consumer logistics analysis for membership-based companies.

• Global Logistics Manager – A global logistics manager is one of several supply chain management career positions that involve transferring components across international borders. You will probably be responsible in this position for developing regulations and processes for shipping goods from one nation to another. In this role, staying current with global shipping and distribution laws and trends is crucial. 

• Supply Chain Finance Management – This is comparable to other corporate finance tasks but focuses on supply chain expenditure control. Usually, only larger businesses have this kind of position.

Pay scale of jobs in supply chain management

Given below is the average supply chain manager career salary in India according to PayScale:

Career level	Pay scale
Entry-level supply chain manager career with less than one year experience.	Average total compensation (includes tips, bonus, and overtime pay) of INR 347,482/- based on 28 salaries.
Early career supply chain manager career with 1-4 years of experience.	Average total compensation of INR 498,455/- based on 131 salaries.
Mid-career supply chain manager career with 5-9 years of experience.	Average total compensation of INR 884,950/- based on 159 salaries.
Experienced supply chain manager career with 10-19 years of experience.	Average total compensation of INR 1,231,825/- based on 224 salaries.
Late career (20 years and higher).	Average total compensation of INR 1,900,000/-.

Top MNCs in supply chain management

Supply Chain Management (SCM) companies combined agility and expertise to provide suitable solutions in response to the rising demand for SCM. The top 10 supply chain firms in India, per the Gartner research, are listed below:

Cisco Systems: For the third year running, Cisco Systems maintained its position as the top company in Gartner’s Global Supply Chain Top 25 study regarding SCM jobs. The Cisco supply chain is broad, widely dispersed, and international. Cisco offers a wide range of equipment targeted at clients with radically varied expectations and fulfilment needs thanks to its more than 300 product families.

Schneider Electric: Using a “self-healing” supply chain platform, Schneider saved over 100 million euros. The platform uses adaptive machine learning (ML) to improve performance-related factors, including lead times, minimum order quantities, and safety stock levels.

Colgate-Palmolive: To improve operations and its supply chain, Colgate-Palmolive is developing a worldwide productivity initiative to complete most of its implementation this year. To maintain volume growth despite price rises and category expansion, the business is raising expenditures in both advertising spending and capacity for some categories as it gets ready for what is expected to be yet another tumultuous year.

Johnson & Johnson: Several COVID-19 vaccines are getting close to being approved. Thus increasing attention is being paid to how well the supply chains of pharmaceutical companies can satisfy demand worldwide. Johnson & Johnson, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies, can boast the most extraordinary supply chain in its industry.

PepsiCo: To guarantee that the company’s consumers always have access to its products, PepsiCo has developed a sophisticated, multi-layered supply chain management system. To avoid shortages or overproduction, the system calculates inventory levels and production figures. Following the most recent changes in consumption habits also ensures that PepsiCo retains its competitive advantage.

Pfizer: Pfizer continuously and actively keeps an eye on the availability of its medications. With over 40 Pfizer-owned locations and more than 200 suppliers worldwide, they run one of the most advanced supply chain systems in the business, providing capacity and redundancy as required. Pfizer’s production and supply chain experts have been working nonstop to maintain the availability of Pfizer medications to patients throughout the world.

Intel: Supplier partners who exhibit Intel’s level of excellence are recognised by the company. In addition to supplying market-leading products and enabling Intel Foundry Services, Intel is dedicated to increasing its global supply capacity. Supplier partnerships are essential for Intel to realise its technological vision and improve supply chain resilience for its clients.

Nestlé: At Nestlé, supply chain management specialists are essential to ensuring that high-quality products get to clients and consumers. To do this, they work with the commercial teams to estimate demand and with our global suppliers to guarantee that the resources are supplied ethically. They balance inventory levels in coordination with operations to provide the ideal supply of our items.

Lenovo: Lenovo has altered its company by using data to inform user demand analysis and drive user demand decision-making. Lenovo also employs an intelligent quality management ecosystem to enhance predictive analytics to guarantee customer happiness. 

Microsoft: As part of a distributed hybrid topology, Microsoft has developed new warehouse execution workloads that offer increased out-of-the-box capabilities for executing scale units. Expanded support for incoming transfer orders are included in this release wave’s warehouse execution responsibilities.

Online Manipal has created a postgraduate certificate programme in logistics and supply chain management for graduates and professionals hoping to succeed and leave their mark in this field. To create a flawless logistics and supply chain operation in the retail and service sectors, strengthen your core knowledge and use this expertise.

Final word 

You should have no issue getting into a supply chain manager career because there are so many different supply chain and logistics professions available at every level, especially if you keep your choices open. The appeal of a supply chain manager career is that, once you join, your work will probably expose you to supply chain management’s more general mechanics and ideas.

Check out the Logistics and Supply Chain Management course offered by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) with Online Manipal if you already know that you desire a supply chain or logistics job but are unsure of what position you want to play. You will get practical insights via industry-focused courses and projects.