Internship Report on Inbound Supply Chain Management at Apex Footwear Limited

Abstract

This report is based on my three-month long internship at Apex Footwear Limited (AFL), Unit 2 from December 7, 2025 to March 6, 2026. Upon receiving the internship offer, I was assigned to Inbound Supply Chain (ISC) division and my internship supervisor was Mr. Nafiz Imtiaz, Deputy Manager, ISC. Founded in 1990, AFL is now acknowledged as the largest footwear manufacturer in South Asia. From its two manufacturing plants, approximately 11,000 people are engaged in serving customers in more than 250 owned retail outlets, 275 franchise stores and 150 wholesale distributors across all of the 64 districts of Bangladesh. The ISC division covers the entire process of bringing raw materials from suppliers to factory in 5 steps. Supplier Communication: The first phase where Purchase Requisitions are translated into a Purchase Order and the relevant shipments are followed in IFS. The next is Bank and Insurance If payment needs to be made by submitting instruments (for example, a Letter of Credit or Telegraphic Transfer) and that transit insurance will also be acquired (specific terms for the trade rules). The third is Bond Management, where the company's government-issued bond license is kept up to date, annual Prappota documents are aimed at raw materials used and accurate records of the Bond Register maintained for regulatory purposes. The fourth is Custom & Delivery, which takes place when shipping documents are released through the bank into a Clearing and Forwarding agent while customs clearance is actively followed up. Stage five is Safe Factory Delivery, which involves transferred cleared goods being transported to the factory and inspected by IQC team before system IFS receiving into materials store. During the internship, my work and responsibilities included keeping a daily shipment tracking log in Microsoft Excel, assisting with the preparation of document checklist for Letter of Credit applications for two shipments, helped the Bond officer cross-verify the entries made by production on raw material usage against the excel sheet-generated from the Bond Register (which is core job responsibility of Bond officer for which he used MS Access to re-confirm this entry), compiling daily customs clearance status summaries, organizing shipment documentation so as to shred down time taken and attend weekly cross-functional coordination meetings. Findings show that AFL's ISC is well-coordinated and backed by an efficient ERP. Strengths: The company has excellent ability to manage multiple payment methods, maintain its own in-house bond compliance function, and manufacture outsoles. AFL can improve in key areas of their business operations such as the reliance on raw materials imported from China where natural disasters can disrupt global supply chains and cause delays (like that which occurred during the onset of COVID-19), needing to rely on one source for most perishable supplies because there isn’t time between seasons to acquire more than one, or international payments processes whereby some documents may not match and hold up incoming shipment clearance. The report ends with recommendations for diversifying sources of import and implementing supplier development even earlier in the product season, enhancing alignment on pre-shipment documents with suppliers, as well as investing in local supplier relationships. A rapid growth in Bangladesh’s footwear industry makes it vital for AFL to effectively manage its inbound supply chain, which will determine its ability to seize that opportunity.