Everything about Supply Chain totally explained
A
supply chain or
logistics network is the system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from
supplier to
customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources,
raw materials and components into a finished product that's delivered to the end customer. In sophisticated supply chain systems, used products may re-enter the supply chain at any point where residual value is recyclable. Supply chains link
value chains.
A typical supply chain begins with ecological and biological regulation of natural resources, followed by the human extraction of raw material and includes several production links, for instance; component construction, assembly and merging before moving onto several layers of storage facilities of ever decreasing size and ever more remote geographical locations, and finally reaching the consumer.
Many of the exchanges encountered in the supply chain will therefore be between different companies who will seek to maximize their revenue within their sphere of interest, but may have little or no knowledge or interest in the remaining players in the supply chain. More recently, the loosely coupled, self-organizing network of businesses that cooperates to provide product and service offerings has been called the
Extended Enterprise.
Supply chain modelling
There are a variety of supply chain models, which address both the upstream and downstream sides.
The
SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference) model, developed by the Supply Chain Council, measures total supply chain performance. It is a process reference model for supply-chain management, spanning from the supplier's supplier to the customer's customer.. It includes delivery and order fulfillment performance, production flexibility, warranty and returns processing costs, inventory and asset turns, and other factors in evaluating the overall effective performance of a supply chain.
The
Global Supply Chain Forum (GSCF) introduced another Supply Chain Model. This framework is built on eight key business processes that are both cross-functional and cross-firm in nature. Each process is managed by a cross-functional team, including representatives from logistics, production, purchasing, finance, marketing and research and development. While each process will interface with key customers and suppliers, the customer relationship management and supplier relationship management processes form the critical linkages in the supply chain.
Supply chain management
In the 1980s the term
Supply Chain Management (SCM) was developed, to express the need to integrate the key business processes, from end user through original suppliers. Original suppliers being those that provide products, services and information that add value for customers and other stakeholders. The basic idea behind the SCM is that companies and corporations involve themselves in a supply chain by exchanging information regarding market fluctuations, production capabilities.
If all relevant information is accessible to any relevant company, every company in the supply chain has the possibility to and can seek to help optimizing the entire supply chain rather than sub optimize based on a local interest. This will lead to better planned overall production and distribution which can cut costs and give a more attractive final product leading to better sales and better overall results for the companies involved.
Incorporating SCM successfully leads to a new kind of competition on the global market where competition is no longer of the company versus company form but rather takes on a supply chain versus supply chain form.
The primary objective of
supply chain management is to fulfill customer demands through the most efficient use of resources, including distribution capacity,
inventory and labor. Various aspects of optimizing the supply chain include liaising with suppliers to eliminate bottlenecks; implementing JIT (Just In Time) techniques to optimize manufacturing flow; and using location/allocation, vehicle routing analysis,
Dynamic programming and, of course, traditional
logistics optimization to maximize the efficiency of the distribution side.
There is often confusion over the terms Supply Chain and Logistics. It is now generally accepted that the term Logistics applies to activities within one company/organization whereas the term Supply Chain also encompasses suppliers and customers and therefore is a much broader focus.
Starting in the 1990s several companies choose to outsource their supply chain management by partnering with a 3PL,
Third-party logistics provider.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Supply Chain'.
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