The improvement of the high value-added supply chain: A cordyceps beverage case study

Abstract

A healthy food trend is becoming popular which makes people become more aware of taking care of themselves. This causes the growth of healthy business phenomena such as supplements and herb in Thailand. Cordyceps which is known as "winter worm summer grass" is a famous Chinese herbal medicine and very expensive because it is rare. People believe that it provides benefits for enhancing health and boosting energy. Today Thai farmers and entrepreneurs can cultivate cordyceps by themselves resulting in widespread use and lower the price. The objective of this research is to analyze a cordyceps beverage supply chain of a small-sized entrepreneur using Integration Definition for Function Modeling (IDEF0). It explains the overall flow of business and related activity of cordyceps beverage. Then we conduct an analysis of the current problems and recommend how to improve the efficiency of the supply chain. Currently, there is a lack of systematic data collection, no proper KPI and inventory policy and low forecast accuracy. We recommend the entrepreneur to use the spreadsheet for forecasting and record data, create KPI to evaluate performance, set standard and target. Establish an inventory policy to manage material and evaluate supplier's performance. We hope our research will promote the entrepreneur to stay competitive in the dynamic market.