Who is a Supply Chain Analyst? The Job Description, Skills, Salary Range and Career Scope

In today’s digital-driven world, you can get almost any product just with a single click.
Every day, millions of products are delivered to people worldwide with the help of evolved supply chains. An organization’s supply chain needs to run efficiently and smoothly to ensure a profit, making supply chain analysis a crucial role.
Here’s more information on who are supply chain analysts, what they do, the skills required, and their salary.

Who is a Supply Chain Analyst?

A Supply chain analyst is a professional who ensures a company’s supply meets customers’ demand. They monitor the supply chain performance, identify trends and risks, and provide recommendations for action plans to reduce risk, achieve efficiency and manage cost across the supply chain.

What Does a Supply Chain Analyst Do?

To deliver any product to a destination safely, timely and cost-effectively, different individuals like supply chain analysts, routes, distance, and time factor play a significant role.
Here are some of the major responsibilities of a supply chain analyst:

• Collecting and analysing the supply chain data and implementing the right supply chain methods.
• Managing the different supply chain operations by coordinating with the staff involved in the process.
• Assuring the supply chain criteria are being met at different levels.
• Conducting inventory analysis and designing the reports accordingly.
• Analysing the supply chain hazards and formulating strategies to resolve the issues on time.
• Providing training to teams and resolving their issues.
• Communicating the issue with the vendors and negotiating cost-effective deals.
• Maintaining promising relationships with vendors and business partners.
• Administering the business units in the expansion and implementing strategic initiatives.
• Collaborating with people from various departments – operations, sales, design, marketing, production, project management teams and customer service to keep track of the process.
• Evaluating the route schedules using the previous activity and customer trends and recommending the effective route.

What are the Skills Required to Become a Supply Chain Analyst?

The skills that supply chain analysts should possess to accomplish their responsibilities are:

Data Analysis Skills

This is a crucial skill as the prime responsibility of a supply chain analyst is to analyse the data, maximise the supply chain efficiency and maintain costs.

Mathematical Skills

For the exact calculation of costs and savings-related data, supply chain analysts must have concrete mathematical skills.

Technical Skills

To analyse large and multi-dimensional data sets, the knowledge of SQL, Excel, and other such tools is necessary.

Quantitative and Analytical Skills

Supply chain analysts must possess a good knowledge of quant and statistics, to analyse large data sets and deliver analytical support for projects.

Logical Thinking Skills

Supply chain analysts must have the ability to evaluate the logic of a proposed modification to ensure it is a better alternative for the organisation.

Interpersonal Skills

The supply chain professionals work with various external stakeholders. Thus, interpersonal skills like empathy and active listening help build effective relationships.

Communication Skills

Strong written and oral communication skills help communicate the ideas and findings with the internal team and stakeholders in a better way.

Project Management Skills

Built-in project management skills help provide leadership for the completion of projects at one’s level.

Organisational Skills

The supply chain analyst must possess strong organisational skills for doing their tasks effectively and managing workload and the pace of different projects.

Teamwork Skills

The profile of a supply chain analyst demands working with different teams, so they must have the ability to operate effectively in a team atmosphere.

Salary of a Supply Chain Analyst in India

The salary of a supply chain analyst in India starts from ₹ 2 Lakhs-₹ 3 Lakhs and goes up to ₹ 12 Lakhs-₹ 14 Lakhs [Source]. The average annual salary range is between ₹ 5.5 Lakhs – ₹ 6.5 Lakhs [Source]. However, depending on the education qualification, years of experience, location and company, the salary of a supply chain analyst varies.

How to Become a Supply Chain Analyst?

The prime requirement to become a supply chain analyst is having the necessary educational qualification. Once you have a foot in the door, your dedication, experience, and skills will help you progress.

Educational Background

For this profile, you should have at least a bachelor’s degree in any field.

Complete relevant Internship or entry-level job

To become an efficient supply chain analyst, it is required to have an understanding of data collection, and analytical skills to recognise trends, mitigate risks and enhance product delivery.
You can go for part-time internships to understand the duties and responsibilities. Internships are a great place to learn the required skills and many employers even have training programs to help you become proficient.

Develop Supply Chain Analyst Skills

As mentioned above, skills are essential to sustain and grow as a supply chain analyst. While on-the-job training can help you learn, upskilling is also an option.

Emeritus India offers a range of online operations management courses to help you gain an in-depth understanding of theoretical and practical elements of supply chain management such as supply chain fundamentals, design of manufacturing and service systems, and project management life cycle

This will help you adapt, evolve, and transform your supply chain operations skills through next-generation strategies. You can also visit the Emeritus India website to explore all courses.