Supply chain architecture

The first goal of this book is to focus on supply chain architecture by focusing on four specific concepts, i.e., the Four Cs of supply chain man etnent. These four Cs are chain structure and ownership, capacity—its type and location across the supply chain, coordination mechanisms, and competitiveness—the metrics of competition and the competitive pressures faced by the supply chain. Choices made regarding each of these Four Cs generate possible supply chain architectures. 

The third and final goal of the book is to provide tools that can be used to manage and improve performance of a supply chain. These tools 

Thus there are three goals for this book (1) an emphasis on concepts embodied by the Four Cs, (2) a focus on applications through consideration of transactions, and (3) a use of tools to estimate the impact of changes. Our pedagogical device will thus be a focus on concepts, applications, and tools to develop your capability in the field of supply chain management. 

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Supply Chain Architecture A Blueprint for Networking the Flow of Material. Information, and Cash... 

Understanding Supply Chain Architecture and its Impact—A Case ... 

This chapter focused on examples of supply chains and their underl dng supply chain architecture, using a Four C conceptual framework. The Four Cs refer to chain structure and ownership, capacity, coordination, and competitiveness. The supply chain audit permits an understanding of current choices and an approach to evaluate alternate choices for supply chain architecture. The goal of this chapter was to explain the Four C choices made in different successful supply chain contexts. 

This chapter focuses on supply chain structure and ownership, one of the Cs in the supply chain framework. The chain structure is the backbone or the pipeline through which information and material flow in the supply chain. It is the process map of a supply chain that typically crosses many independent company boundaries. Once a supply chain map is generated, the location of entities, as well as ownership, and the connections to the rest of the supply chain architecture influence the observed lead times, costs, incentives, and thus performance, of the supply chain. 

The focus of a company is to be competitive in the marketplace and thus be profitable. A competitive supply chain has to provide customers with the expected or superior performance. But what does it mean to be competitive The competitiveness of a supply chain refers to two aspects of the supply chain (1) the link between a supply chain s choice of its competitive metric and the corresponding choice of its architecture and (2) the impact of competitors on a supply chain s performance. While successful firms in every industry often have unique capabilities, an important question for every firm is to adjust its supply chain architecture to remain competitive in the presence of a changing environment. 

Thus far, we have focused on alternate performance metrics and associated supply chain architecture. Now we will consider the impact of competitors who independently make decisions to maximize their performance. The presence of competitors may often benefit individual customers but may also decrease the profitability of supply chain entities. A key concept is that competing supply chains generate equilibrium results, in which each supply chain makes decisions independently, anticipating but not knowing decisions by competitors. There are several ways that supply chains affect the competing choices and performance of a given supply chain. 

This chapter showed how the choice of metric of competition and the existence of competitors affects the performance of a supply chain. The first part of the chapter examined the many alternate metrics that can determine performance, including costs, profitability, service, variety, and lead time. Each of these alternate metrics implies different choices for supply chain architecture as well as for the details of operation. In addition, in the presence of competitors, agreements that are good for the supply chain in a monopolistic setting may be bad for the supply chain in a competitive environment. Thus one may find an industry supply chain stuck in a bad equilibrium with frequent harmful promotions or advance order discounts, unable to pull itself out of this state due to competitive pressures. This chapter thus su ests that competitiveness can be a significant driver of supply chain performance. 

Transportation Transactions and Supply Chain Architecture Interactions... 

In addition to the choices above, there can be a number of hybrid versions of the supply chain architecture. The appropriate choice clearly affects the performance of the supply chain architecture. 

What does all this mean for a supply chain manager in Europe It means that spatial distance may not be an appropriate way to look at the supply chain because country boundaries may have an impact. It means that individual country specific rules regarding truck sizes and movement would need to be considered while planning the supply chain network. Coordination agreements to decide how orders are initiated and delivered could have a significant impact on costs. In short, the supply chain architecture in Europe would have to respond to the specific European logistics context. 

The next sections provide a set of specific problem contexts along with a description of an adjustment of the supply chain architecture that improved performance of the supply chain. 

Walker, William T, Supply Chain Architecture, Boca Raton, FL CRC Press, 2005, pp. 79-80. 

Members of the Supply-Chain Council developed and now maintain SCOR. Developers include teams of industry practitioners, consultants, and software companies. SCOR incorporates supply chain architectures, performance measures, and best practices for supply chain processes. The model is updated continuously, so new releases occur frequently. 

GowH.R., OliverL.D., GowN.G., 2002, Co-operating to Compete in High Velocity Global Markets The Strategic Role of Flexible Supply Chain Architectures, Journal on Chain and Network Science, 2(1), pp. 19-32. 

Clearly, a design as innovative as the 787 brought with it many challenges as much of the technology was untried and untested. Beyond this, however, there were a number of risks that were systemic, i.e. risks that arose as a result of decisions taken by the company on the precise form of the chosen supply chain architecture. 

Three dominant themes are discernible in transforming the supply chain, irrespective of their drivers modification of operational control systems, leveraging of emerging technologies, and redesign of the supply chain architecture. 

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