Competitiveness Metric of the Supply Chain

What is the basis of competition for the supply chain For purposes of illustration, we will use cost as a metric of performance, but many other possible choices (e.g., time, days of inventory) could also be the relevant metric. Consider the cost impact on the product as it moves through the supply chain. Examine how costs are added as each of the entities in the supply chain impact the product. 

The question now is Which of the supply chain entities is affected by these added costs For the manufacturer, these added costs meant lower margins as well as greater potential for competitors to enter the market. The end customers (patients) cared because the supply chain inefficiencies meant higher costs. 

But what could be done to improve the supply chain The manufacturer studied the source of the costs and decided that the problem was the one-size-fits-all approach implied by the original supply chain. Because all products followed the same path in going from the manufacturer to the customer, the associated supply was not matched to demand patterns. 

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