Supply chain identifying

With the supply chains identified, their configuration should be documented with flowcharts and supporting data. These need not be elaborate due to the time limitations of a prestudy. But they should convey an understanding of the basic stmcture of the chains. Accompanying the flowcharts should be metrics and other information that characterize current performance. 

Work closely with suppliers and customers to promote EDI implementation along the entire supply chain Identify and hold to standards when selecting EDI vendors and applications Use the Internet and intranets to link suppliers and manufacturing facilities... 

The goal of the LCA is to understand the impact of the existing fluid milk supply chain on energy usage and GHG emissions, as well as the other impact categories provided that data are available, and to use the information as a roadmap for improvements to the process. The LCA also provides an environmental benchmark to identify points where improvements to the fluid milk supply chain may be made. 

Commurrication and teamwork remove organizational and technical barriers and it is essential for everyone to identify and follow np opportimities for improvement. They should be extended through the whole supply chain including suppliers and customers. 

All available and relevant information on substances on their own, in preparations and in articles should be collected to assist in identifying hazardous properties, and recommendations about risk management measures should systematically be conveyed through supply chains, as reasonably necessary, to prevent adverse effects on human health and the environment. In addition, communication of technical advice to support risk management should be encouraged in the supply chain, where appropriate."... 

RFID technologies with the appropriate IT infrastructure help major distributors and manufacturers as well as other logistics operations such as the health care system, defense industries, and others deal with complex, global supply chains in which products and product shipments must be traced and identified in a noncontact, wireless fashion using a computer network. 

A systemic approach of the whole supply chain allows the designer to identify the critical stages where inefficient use of raw materials and energy takes place, as well as the sources of toxic materials and pollution. Developing sustainable processes implies the availability of consistent and general accepted sustainability measures. A comprehensive analysis should examine the evolution of sustainability over the whole life cycle, namely that raised by the dismantling the plant. 

A distinctive feature of these metrics is that they can be stacked along the whole product supply chain. In this way, ecological bottlenecks can be identified readily. For example, a chemical product that might appear as benign for the environment, could involve, in reality, highly toxic materials in some intermediate steps of manufacturing. 

Table 2. Important factors identified in sequential bifurcation for the Old supply chain N/A denotes a dummy factor and denotes an important factor...

Figure 5 illustrates how the estimated upper limits U for main effects decrease as new observations are obtained. Furthermore, this figure shows that, for the Old supply chain, the most important individual main effect, that of factor 92, has already been identified and estimated after only ten steps. The next important factor, 49, is identified after 16 observations, and so on. 

The technique of sequential bifurcation is an important and useful method for identifying important factors in experiments with simulation models that involve a large number of factors. We have demonstrated the steps of this technique through a case study on three supply chain configurations in the Swedish mobile communications industry. We have formalized the assumptions of the technique and found that, in practice, these assumptions may not be too restrictive, as our case study illustrates. We have extended the technique of sequential bifurcation to random (as opposed to deterministic) simulations. 

Often an effective way of reducing risk is by substituting hazardous chemicals with more harmless ones. To enable substitution, the users of chemicals and products further down the supply chain need to have appropriate and sufficient information on the technical and hazardous properties associated with the chemicals they purchase. Such information is necessary in order to assess potential risks at the point of intended use and to compare different alternatives from a risk reducing perspective. Therefore, suppliers of chemicals, especially manufacturers and importers, need to identify and assess all of the hazardous properties and foreseeable risks - to human health, to the environment and to property due to fire or explosion - in order to be able ... 

---