Supply Concatenation Direction

In the simplest terms, supply concatenation management (SCM) lets an system get the right goods and services to the place they're needed at the right time, in the proper quantity and at an acceptable price. Efficiently managing this process involves overseeing relationships with suppliers and customers, controlling inventory, forecasting demand and getting constant feedback on what's happening at every link in the chain.

The supply concatenation involves several elements:

Location. Information technology's important to know where production facilities, stocking points and sourcing points are located; these make up one's mind the paths along which goods will flow.

Production. An arrangement must decide what products to create at which plants, which suppliers will service those plants, which plants will supply specific distribution centers, and, sometimes, how appurtenances will get to the final customer. These decisions have a big impact on revenue, costs and client service.

Inventory. Each link in the supply concatenation has to keep a sure inventory of raw materials, parts, subassemblies and other goods on hand equally a buffer against uncertainties and unpredictabilities. Shutting downwardly an assembly plant considering an expected parts shipment didn't make it is expensive. But inventory costs money too, and then it's important to manage deployment strategies, determine efficient order quantities and reorder points, and set prophylactic stock levels.

Transportation. How do materials, parts and products go from one link in the supply chain to the next? Choosing the best way to transport appurtenances often involves trading off the shipping cost confronting the indirect cost of inventory. For instance, shipping by air is mostly fast and reliable. Shipping by bounding main or rail will likely be cheaper, especially for beefy goods and large quantities, but slower and less reliable. So if you ship by sea or rails, y'all have to programme further in accelerate and keep larger inventories than you do if y'all ship past air.

Managing the Chain

Once you've determined all of the elements in the supply chain, how do yous manage the chain? There are three main paths in the process:

Product menstruum includes the movement of goods from a supplier to a customer, as well as customer returns.

Information flow involves transmitting orders and updating the status of delivery.

Financial menstruum consists of credit terms, payments and payment schedules, plus consignment and title ownership.

Juggling these elements involves tape-keeping, tracking and analysis past many departments. Supply concatenation software, especially large, integrated packages, combines many dissimilar technologies to give a single view of supply concatenation data that can be shared with others.

SCM applications fall into two main categories: planning applications and execution applications. Planning applications decide the all-time way to route materials and the quantities of goods needed at specific points. When such applications piece of work well, they make possible the "just-in-fourth dimension" delivery of appurtenances. Execution applications track financial data, the physical status and flow of goods, and ordering and delivery of materials.

A relatively new SCM choice involves Spider web-based software with a browser interface. Several major Web sites now offering auctions and other electronic marketplaces for buying and selling goods and materials. Too, Web-based application service providers are at present promising to provide part or all of the SCM services for companies that rent their services.

SCM is so big that it tin can be difficult to programme the deployment of such a organization. Simply remember, a chain connects one link to the adjacent, and an SCM implementation can proceed similarly. Each added link brings more efficiencies. When all of the links are in place, and when the data, goods and finances are flowing properly, the benefits are enormous. This is truly a case in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Implementation of Supply Chain Management
Typical Functional Silos

Business organisation Processes

Sales and marketing Technical Logistics Manufacturing Purchasing Finance and accounting
Client relationship management Business relationship management Requirements definition Requirements definition Manufacturing strategy Sourcing strategy Customer profitability
Client service direction Business relationship administration Technical service Performance specifications Coordinated execution Priority assessment Cost to serve
Demand management Demand planning Process requirements Network planning Capability planning Sourcing Trade-off assay
Fulfillment Special orders Environmental requirements Distribution management Establish directly Selected supplier(south) Distribution toll
Manufacturing flow direction Packaging specifications Process stability Prioritization criteria Production planning Integrated supply Manufacturing cost
Procurement Order booking Material specifications Inbound flow Integrated planning Supplier management Materials toll
Production evolution and commercialization Business concern program Product design Movement requirements Process specifications Textile specifications Inquiry and evolution cost
Suppliers
Customers

Source: Adjusted from the commodity "Supply Chain Management: What Does Information technology involve?" in the Fall 2001 outcome of Supply Chain & Logistics Periodical, by Douglas M. Lambert, a professor of marketing and logistics at The Ohio Country University's Fisher College of Business (www.infochain.org/quarterly/F01/Lambert.html).

Missing Links

Stories in this study:

  • Bad News Everywhere
  • Beyond Paper Clips
  • CIOs Catch On to SCM Standards
  • Case written report: Unilever Crosses the Data Streams
  • Courting the Dispossessed
  • Dirty Data
  • Simply in Case
  • Kinks in The Chain
  • Other Challenges That Lie Alee
  • Patching the Supply Concatenation Together
  • Supply Chain Direction
  • Tech Check: Getting Demand Planning Correct
  • The Weakest Link
  • Tips for Success
  • Vendor Choices: Know the Differences
  • Your Crystal Brawl
  • Covisint's Stalled Commencement
  • Data quality should exist a boardroom outcome
  • Gaining better visibility
  • Cyberspace-based collaboration beats airport hassles
  • Managing the people supply
  • Perkins Takes Smart Approach to Online Parts Catalog
  • Supply chain uncertainty requires better IT tools
  • The toll-cutters
  • Tips from the field: Deploying demand forecasting

Copyright © 2001 IDG Communications, Inc.