EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This project aims at understanding and analysing the supply chain activity of the Coca-Cola Company, Africa. It takes into consideration the
Profile, Background, relevant facts and characteristics of Coca-cola on what factors or modification of current practises to improve the
performance of the supply chain. Then the report moves on to concrete on implementation of new practises, like the Implementation of
ICT(Externally and Internally),logistic systems( to manage the flow of goods, information and other resources, including energy and people,
between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet the requirements of consumers frequently) and also the supply
chain activity in terms of the supply chain drivers (Information,Inventory,Transportation and Location).

The various learning from the Coca-Cola supply chain activity has been jotted down in the end.

COCA-COLA PROFILE

The Coca-Cola Company is the world's leading manufacturer, marketer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups.
The Coca Cola Company markets four of the world's top-five soft drink brands, including Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. Throughout the
world, no other brand is immediately recognizable as Coca Cola. With operations in more than 200 countries, a diverse workforce
comprised of more than 200 different nationalities, communicating in more than 100 different languages. The Coca Cola Company is part
of the fabric of life in each of the communities they serve throughout the world. It operates as a local business partner, providing quality in
the marketplace, enhancing the workplace, preserving the environment and strengthening the community. The product was born in
Atlanta, Georgia, USA on May, 1886 which was invented by Doctor John Pemberton a local pharmacist in a small city in Atlanta, USA.

The Coca-cola company consists of 6 functional departments, these are:

1.Marketing Sales
Marketing Finance Packaging
2.Finance

3.Packaging
Administration Research & Development
4. Sales

5.Research and development

6.Administration

Marketing

The Coca Cola marketing department at the Atlanta Headquarters develops core strategies for company brands to ensure that all
communication is consistent in every market. With this cohesive effort, the Coca-Cola system maximizes its resources for market
leadership and profitable growth. The marketing departments are responsible for marketing the products, advertising the products and
promoting the products. If all these departments performs their duty firmly then the objectives of The Coca-Cola Company will reach its
ultimate goal

Finance

The finance department of the Coca Cola Company is responsible for financial record keeping. This involves keeping records of money
received and paid out. The financial records will be used to produce the annual reports for the shareholders so that they can see the
company performance. The Finance department is also responsible for the management accounts of the business like marketing etc. The
Coca-Cola Company finance department is also responsible for making budget of the company and for each department like marketing
department or research and development department. They will also be involved in the planning process like taking over or any major
decision.

Packaging

The packaging department of The Coca-Cola Department is responsible for the packaging of the products. They have to make the
packaging attractive so that that product meets the eyes of the consumers. Bringing new products package is their responsibility. It works
with the companies bottling partners to produce an attractive combination.

Sales

The sales department of the Coca Cola Company is to coordinate the selling program. They also have to make the distribution methods,
etc. Also, decide how much to sell and how much to store in the warehouse and to choose the transporting method which is the most cost
efficient and the quickest way.
Research and development

This department has their budget given by the finance department and their responsibility is to investigate new products. They work
closely with marketing by looking at marketing research findings. They have to bring new products in the market for the change because
the consumer cannot stick with the same old products. If necessary then they also have to improve the quality of the products. The Coca-
Cola Company research department has done a lot of research and recently they have launched many new products like Diet coke with
lemon, Fanta Tropical, Minute maids, Fanta raspberry, Fanta blue berry etc.

Administration

This department is essential for keeping the business going. They act as a help support of the company, it is not the central purpose the
business but every business organization would need this department. Most businesses rely on administration to be organized. They deal
with enquiries, give messages produce documents and give information to any customer. The complaints that this department will get
would be transferred to the research and development department to make the product better or fix the problem that the consumer is
having. This department is the most important department in the Coca-Cola Company because they helps the company to meets the
objectives of The Coca-Cola Company i.e. surviving, customer satisfaction and make more profits. As I said that the help desk department
satisfies the customer by providing the information they needs and taking the complaints and passing to the research and development
departments who improves the products.

COCA-COLA SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY

In any organization like coca-cola, supply chain strategy is needed most importantly in other to gain competitive advantage in the market.
There are number of levels of supply chain strategies. All businesses or organization has a high level of corporate strategy that they
operate on and that is where the mission statement is needed. Coca-cola is targeting upper end customers with high responsiveness
requirements. This strategy is supported through inventory. Coca-cola stores an important amount of variety and quantity of products to
ensure availability at all time.

Basically, top organizations like coca-cola has a competitive strategy for each of their market or the services they are operating on taking
note that the competitive strategy in Europe is completely different from the competitive strategy in Africa. In Africa, Coca-cola follows
franchising model in the sense that the company only produces a syrup concentrate, which it sells to bottlers who hold Coca-Cola
franchises for one or more geographical areas. The bottlers produce the final drink by mixing the syrup with filtered water and
sweeteners, and then carbonate it before putting it in cans and bottles, which the bottlers then sell and distribute. There are so many
factors affecting Coca-cola strategy in Africa compared to other parts of the world. Electricity is very important in the manufacturing
process of Coca-cola were manufacturing machines operates electrically but in the case of Africa where there is no constant electricity, it
delays the manufacturing process and in terms of costs, this approach incurs high cost because the operators has to put more capital in
gas or other means of electricity in other to get power supply for manufacturing this is because coca-cola has large inventories. Another
major problem is lack of basic infrastructures like Good roads. There is high rate of Coca-cola truck crashes this is as a result of bad roads.
The characteristics of coca-cola products is not consistent (It varies) you can have a coca-cola classic flavour in USA, a Lychee flavour in
Japan, a Chapman flavour in Africa and many more flavours in other countries. In terms of Cost, time and quality, the suppliers ensures on
quick time delivery of raw materials and supplies to coca-cola but also enables it to cut down on its cost and maximize profitability along
with maintaining highest quality standards of its products.

In the production process or manufacturing process of coca-cola products before distribution to consumers, eight key activities take place
which is listed as below

1). Sourcing water 2).Initial water treatments 3). Interim processing 4). Water purification 5). Mineralization of water 6). Disinfection of
water 7). Filling and packaging 8). Monitoring quality in the market place.

Basically, understanding the roles of each supply chain drivers for supporting strategic fit between competitive strategy and the supply
chain strategy is very important in any organization. The drivers below determine the performance of the supply chain of coca-cola in
terms of responsiveness and efficiency.

Facilities: Coca-cola uses facilities decision to be more responsive to customer’s requirement and demand. Coca-cola has several location
in their supply chain network were products are kept, assembled and fabricated. Coca-cola Company has over 300 storage sites in over
200countries where inventory is been stored after production.

Transportation: Transportation has a very big impact on supply chain responsiveness and efficiency. Local distribution of inventories is
cheap for coca-cola were they have better trucks, happy drivers and lower costs.

Information: This is one of the most important drivers of supply chain performance because it consists of data analysis regarding facilities,
inventory, transportation and costs.
THE CHART BELOW ILLUSTRATES THE SUPPLY CHAIN PROCESS OF COCA-COLA COMPANY

The below chart illustrates the Supply chain process of Coca-cola company.

Suppliers 10
5
Marketing 2 Business Unit Manager 6

4 Transport 11
Purchasing 10
Analysts 3 8 25
Manufacturing 12

Re-order Process
Customer Services 16
24 Transport 13
Sales 1
171717 18
Warehousing 14
21
Computer Export Dept

Customers 15
systems 20 22
Transport

17

1. This flow chart shows a typical manufacturing supply chain work flow detailing which areas of the business are involved.

2. The sales department identifies a need for a product. The sales department tell the marketing department about their idea
and provide any supporting information / data.

3. The marketing department use business analysts to support the project and to complete the research.

4. Data and supporting evidence is passed back to the marketing department for completion of a business plan.

5. A fully detailed business plan is forwarded to the Business Unit Manager / Directors.

6. This unit comprises of the senior business directors or managers who make a decision on the project.

7. After approval the plan is passed back to the analysts to prepare and implement the manufacturing process.

8. Details of raw materials and components passed to purchasing.

9. Purchasing work with logistics and transport to plan the purchase and delivery of the materials to the manufacturing plant.

10.Suppliers receive orders for product and then despatch on agreed transport on agreed dates.

11. Carriers approved by the business transport the raw materials and components to the manufacturing site.

12. Products are received into the warehouse and then moved to manufacturing.

13. Finished products are moved from manufacturing to the finished goods warehouse which might be situated locally or ina
remote location.

14. Finished goods are put into inventory awaiting orders. The company computer system is updated. Product is now available
to sales.
15. Customers place orders through customer services.

16. Customer Services take orders and input them to the company computer system.

17. The central computer system maintains transaction records and provided visibility of product for sale.

18. An order is completed and a pick list sent to the warehouse.

19. A copy of the order is sent to the export department for completion of export documentation.

20. Export department manages the final despatch of the product and produces any export documents.

21. Documents are sent to the warehouse to meet up with the finished order.

22. The order is despatched by the warehouse.

23. The transport company collects the consignment and delivers it to the customer based upon the INCO terms of carriage.

24. As stock has now been used the computer system generates a request for new stock.

25. The re-order process generates a request to the purchasing department to place new orders with the suppliers.

HOW TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF A SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

When a company like Coca Cola, which has several flavoured drinks wants to know what its customers prefer the use of IT is been
implemented to monitor the pulse of its customers. To improve the performance of a supply chain, the use of Supply chain systems is a
vital key in every organization. Supply chain management (SCM) systems are used to coordinate and monitor the movement of products
and services from suppliers to customers (including manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers). These systems are also used to manage
demand, warehouses, trade logistics, transportation, and other issues concerning facilities, movement, monitoring and transformation of
materials on their way to customers.

Manufacturers in this present global markets are experiencing total reduced margins coupled with rising customer expectations this is
because customers expects more from them and more has to be given to the customers in other to retain customers and to gain
competitive advantage among other competitors in the market . Being a very successful supply chain partner for your customer’s
demands, up-to-the-minute information should be visible.

One of the most important key to improve the performances of a supply chain is the use of ERP SYSTEMS.

There are several ways Integrated ERP SYSTEMS improves the performance of the supply chain but I would be taking note of the most 4
important ways integrated ERP system improves supply chain performance

1. Develop better customer insight and interaction

To build long-term relationships with customers today, you need to listen to them and create an immediate understanding with them.
This requires that you maintain a holistic view of those customers. You can obtain such a broad-spectrum view from a variety of data
sources, sales and marketing, customer service and field service systems, internal database information, and knowledge gathered from
unstructured interaction with customers. This integrated ERP system enable manufacturers to look beyond tactical order fulfilment and
gain a better understanding of customer wishes for customized products and services which can help the company differentiate its
offerings and increase profits. It can also lead to insight and answers to questions such as what are the buying patterns? Are we driving
larger orders to customers? Are we seeing demand increases or downturns that we must react to? All this are basic questions asked when
the use of ERP Systems is been implemented.However, Understanding your customers needs and meeting there expectations is a very
vital part of a supply chain. How to understand your customers wants are listed below.

Another way integrated ERP SYSTEMS can improve supply chain is:

2. Achieve global visibility in a demand-driven supply chain

It's critical in an age of tight cost management that manufacturers optimize inventory investment and continue to provide excellent
customer service. To do so, manufacturers need to know where inventory is throughout the entire supply chain which is information an
ERP system can help to provide. Knowing when and where inventory is needed enables manufacturers to develop the best plan for
production and resupply in critical customer relationships building only what is required for shipments. Beyond having the right data for
internal operations, manufacturers must also be able to provide customers with visibility into inventory and product availability. In a
demand-driven world, real-time intelligence not nightly batch updates is required to make timely and effective decisions. This now means
systems must be open to the new ways of working including mobile and radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies and support for
tracing and other regulatory compliance requirements. The right ERP system can help meet your needs in all these areas.

3. Lean manufacturing, global sourcing, and supplier integration

Managing to the lowest possible manufactured cost is essential. This means applying lean manufacturing practices and connecting to the
best suppliers on a global basis. Today, lean operations are driving an increase in speed and response time for all supply chain participants.
Unfortunately for most manufacturers, the new lean business processes are not supported by their legacy systems and must be
implemented as manual processes, which can defeat the information visibility crucial to state-of–the-art supply chains. Locating the best
suppliers requires a comprehensive supplier database that enables a manufacturer to recognize where new opportunities for lower costs
exist such as suppliers in emerging countries. This means that manufacturers must have real-time connections to suppliers to respond to
changing production demands. Once identified, these new suppliers must be brought on board quickly and cost effectively with the ability
to share and respond to real-time demand and production data, including new product designs and critical engineering changes. The
current generation of integrated ERP systems includes the processes and capabilities to help ensure lean operation, including the need for
real-time production data exchange with suppliers.

4. MANAGING FOR HIGHER PERFORMANCE

Executives know that measurement and performance are inextricably linked. Whole new metrics, key performance indicators (KPIs), and
benchmarks can give advance warning of problems managers may face in their operations. The real power of these metrics comes when
managers can quickly access real-time data that reflects the global domain of their operations. Done well, performance analytics can make
manufacturers significantly more agile an important consideration in today’s very lean supply chains. However, measuring performance is
often far too difficult in the world of disparate legacy systems, the result being that most companies do not currently have a standardized
and automated performance analysis capability to manage for higher performance. Integrated ERP systems today include business
analytics that enable executives to standardize metrics across the organization and monitor production and profitability. In fact, ERP
systems can provide actionable information to employees at all levels of the organization and make it accessible through their familiar
desktop tools, bringing speed and quality to their decision making.

By integrating data, standardizing processes, and opening up visibility to the global supply chain, an integrated ERP system can offer
manufacturers a fast path to reduced cost structures, increased speed, and improved transparency that can improve customer satisfaction
and company profitability. The bottom line is that Today's ERP systems have become an operating platform that can scale and deal with
the global competition that is in every manufacturer's future.

CAN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ICT IMPROVE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT?

YES! Another important way to improve the performance of a supply chain is the Implementation of ICT.

ICT implementation in an organization is a very important aspect that involves knowledge management and information sharing which
gives boost to the benefits of the companies. Companies like coca-cola could successfully utilize the ICT and information sharing
techniques by the following listed below.

 Giving more focus on the reducing response time.

 Re-designing the business processes.
 Streamlining logistic activities across the supply chain to reduce cost and improved efficiency.
 Developing high valued supply chain relationships.
 Enhancing customer services for competitive advantage and trying to attain global standard and access to the world market.
Most companies like coca-cola had considerably invested in the development of a probable integrated IT infrastructure solutions for
logistics and supply chain network management (L & SCM) in terms of computer hardware, software, and connectivity by means of
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Bar Code System (BCS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) as mentioned earlier and also Intranet,
Extranet and Internet as shown below.

ROLES OF ICT

The adoption of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is spreading rapidly in supply chain management. As companies seek
to improve supply chain efficiency through increased integration, ICT can be considered as a key enabler for supply chain management by
supporting information-sharing.ICT has a major role to play in the improvement and performance of supply chain integration. The role of
ICT in supply chain has emerged as below.

 Negotiating multilateral trade agreements

 Finalising Bi-lateral trade agreements
 Expediting communications and transportation of data/information
 Lowering the cost and time reduction.

THE USE OF ICT IN COCA-COLA COMPANY

Internal ICT Communications used by Coca Cola use ICT to communicate both internally externally. This includes communication with:

· Employees - Fax will be used to contact the employees because most employees will have a fax machine in their office or wherever they
will be working

· Management - If management need to be contacted then pagers would probably be the alternative to contact them, fax machine could
be a factor as well.

· Customers - The only ICT communication used by Coca Cola to contact customers could be E-mailing, they could E-mail customers
different products or new sale's etc.

· Distributors of Coca Cola - They would probably be contacted by Video conference because the distributors are very likely to be from
other countries rather than the country the business is trying to consumer the products from.

Internal ICT Communications that Coca Cola use are:

E-mail - E-mail will save a lot of time within the business if everybody would start emailing instead of calling a meeting. Coca Cola
staff has programs installed on their computers, which tells them once they have received E-mail. This lets them communicate quickly with
one another. Staff within Coca cola has access to a computer where they can E-mail. The disadvantage of this type of communication is
that it is quite expensive, as it would have to be on all day long. The advantage of this is that it is fast and information can be passed on
quickly. They can avoid the disadvantage by having broadband where you pay a certain sum for unlimited access.

Fax - Faxing allows people to have copies of documents they may require. Faxing is similar to emailing. But you do not receive the
messages on a computer but a fax machine. Messages can also be sent via fax to tell employees of urgent messages, meetings,
memoranda's, newsletters and import notices are amongst things that can be sent by via tax. The advantage of this is that import
documents can be received quickly but the disadvantage could by that not everyone within the business would actually have a fax
machine to use, or they may not look at it very often.

Pagers - Mainly executives use pagers in the business. Pagers allow these people to receive information wherever they are at whatever
time. Pagers, in general are a good thing as it allows people to receive information on the move. A disadvantage of this would by that you
cannot send long messages, all messages must be short, and this could lead to misunderstanding of messages. Words may be shortened
and this may lead to more of confusion.

Video Conferencing - Video conferencing can be proved to be very important but not all companies may use it. This form of
communication can allow people from different countries to have a meeting. Video conferencing allows people to talk to one another and
listen to what is being said. An example when this could be used is if a meeting is taking place and someone is not there they can be
reached via the videoconference and can take part in the meeting. This is a good form of communication as it allows people to take part
wherever they are.

External ICT Communications used by Coca Cola Fax Coca Cola use their fax for external suppliers. Suppliers are the only people who do fax
them externally. This form of external communications is important as important documents could be axed from the supplier to the
company and vice versa. This would save time and money.