Supply chain as a network

Given the supply-chain context of this book, we will consider only the management of independent-demand items—i.e., those items that move between firms in the supply chain. Throughout this book, we focus on issues related to node-to-node relationships in the supply chain, consistent with the framework developed in Chapter 1 that defines a supply chain as a network of nodes. Dependent demand involves "within-node" effects and is outside the scope of this book, but is discussed extensively in books on production/operations planning and control systems (e.g., Vollmann et al., 2005 or Chapman, 2006, which also contains an excellent discussion on hybrid systems that combine appropriate elements of MRP and kanban control). Note, however, that the classification of an item as an independent-demand item or a dependent-demand item is not an absolute characterization. Rather, it only makes sense in context. For example, to the company that assembles the cell phones, the keypad is clearly a dependent-demand item, provided that its only demand is derived from the production schedule for cell phones (i.e., not from sales of keypads as stand-alone items). To the firm that produces the keypads and sells them to various cell phone manufacturers, however, the keypad is an... 

In section 1.1 we showed the supply chain as a network of operating processes. In section 1.2 we emphasised the need to integrate these processes to maximise flow and focus on the end-customer. And in section 1.3 we saw how supply chains can choose to compete on a range of different competitive priorities. Now it is time to put these ideas together and show how strategies need to be aligned across the supply chain. 

As the issues bubble up in the boardroom, now is the time to realize that bricks matter. Companies can only be successful in the long term if they design for value, clearly communicate the goal, and understand the potential of their own supply chain (effective frontier). There has never been a better time to build a guiding coalition to redefine the supply chain as a value network or to map the supply... 

Simchi-Levi et al. [9] described supply chain as logistics network in which dilFerent facilities frequently have different, conflicting, objectives. Ma et al. [10] considered supply chain as a utilized structured network that is built around core products and controls information, material, and capital flow to maintain a smooth process of production from raw-material suppliers to end consumers (see Fig. 2.1). 

According to Santoso et al. (2005), a supply chain is a network of suppliers, manufacturing plants, warehouses, and distribution channels organized to acquire raw materials, convert these raw materials to finished products, and distribute these products to customers. Van der Vorst et al. (2005) extends this to a food supply network, referring to an interconnected system with a large variety of complex relationships such as alliances, horizontal and vertical cooperation, forward and backward integration in supply chains. 

You will discover new opportunities to increase your returns, to be part of a performance network - a supply chain - as a partner valued for schedule effectiveness and to offer your customers excellent logistics services. A new world of methods will open up to you how you plan, schedule, and control your customer orders as well as your material flow, engineering, production, suppliers and key competence partners. 

Considering the above, the structure of the supply chain, understood as a set of elements and a set of relationships between network elements can be represented as a graph. For the purposes of the logistics network model, we assume that the network elements will be numbered with index of v. Thus V will be a set of numbers of elements of the supply chain as a ... 

Key issues What are the key steps in planning and executing material flow and information flow within the focal firm What are the key steps in planning and executing material flow and information flow between partners in a supply network What are the implications for planning and controlling the supply chain as a whole ... 

Several factors are involved in the success of an industry one of the first steps is to develop an efficient supply chain. A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution mechanisms that perform the functions of material procurement, material transformation to intermediates and final products, and distribution of these products to customers (Shah et al., 2007 Papageorgiou, 2009). Taking these concepts as guidelines for the optimization of the supply chain for the production of Ambrox from A. Jocotepecana is of key importance... 

While studying risk in a supply chain network context, one also has to remember that a supply chain comprises a network of companies that belong to an industry vertical embedded in a business and social enviromnent. Hence, supply chains are subjected to internal risks resulting from the interaction between firms within the supply chain and to external risks that are felt by all supply chain networks in the industry, and within the same environment. Consequentially supply chain risks can arise at four levels organizational, network level, industry level and environmental level, as elaborated in Sect. 2.1. An excellent discussion on this topic may be found in Miller (1992). 

Supply Chain Coordination—Growing Network and Collection Recruitment A supply chain is defined as a system of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and customers where material, financial, and information flows connect... 

Transportation is flow of goods between supply chain stakeholders. The flow can be between and through any echelon of the supply chain from warehouse to factory, from factory to customer etc. The transportation problem can be viewed as a network flow problem where the nodes represent stakeholders, edges represent the cost and amount of transportation between them basically. Consider the network in Fig. 4.1. 5 represents the amount of supply at node n. D is the amount of demand at node m. This network is a direct shipment network. 

The first step is to collect the relevant data regarding costs and demands faced by the supply chain. For a typical supply network, such as the one shown in Figure 2.3, some of the data that will affect performance of the chain are ... 

Supply chain excellence has evolved. The definition has morphed from the efficient supply chain to a market-driven value network. Today, the concept of a market-driven value network is largely aspirational. It is a new goal. As supply risks and costs have grown, companies realize that a demand-driven approach is not sufficient. The focus needs to be about more than the channel, instead, the supply chain needs to be driven through strong horizontal processes bidirectionally from market to market. Accomplishing the goal requires a redefinition of both buy-side and sell-side processes, and the use of new forms of analytics to sense, shape, and orchestrate bidirectionally market to market. 

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