Supply chain improvement

Demand/supply chain improvement in multi-tier environments... 

Thus, an important question for an existing supply chain is Can assembly postponement, through product design changes, enable supply chain improvement ... 

Ayers and Malmberg (2002) touch very briefly DDSC concepts, providing a four stage maturity model to show how enablers of supply chain improvement support the introduction of information technology to the supply chain, and one of these elements is the demand-driven as illustrated in Fig. 2.8 below. However, they did not provide a detail maturity model and a robust methodology to assess a supply chain, in order to determine its current state in terms of the demand driven concepts. 

Fig. 2.8 Enablers of supply chain improvement (Ayers and Malmberg 2002)...

Provide a four stage readiness model to show how enablers of supply chain improvement support the introduction of information technology to the supply chain... 

HiU, S., Jr., We Need to Talk Collaboration Is the Next Step to Supply-Chain Improvements, Manufacturing Systems, 16,40-48,1998. 

Level 4 Focuses on implementation, when companies put specific supply chain improvements into play. Since changes at level 4 are unique to each company, the specific elements of the level are not defined within the industry standard model. 

Despite the fact that these methods provide advantages in identifying interdependencies in process netwoiks, they mainly focus on a common-sense approach. They do not address the typical problem with a very highly complex set of business processes. Hence it gives limited emphasis to identification of supply chain interdependencies and supply chain network integration for the purpose of supply chain improvement. 

Business process benchmarking and the selection of best practices are identified as the tools for supply chain improvement. The SCOR model provides a list of best-in-class practices for each process element. However, SCOR best-in-class practices are generic lists. A best practice that has a significant effect on the performance of a certain... 

As our understanding of supply chains improves, and experience provides useful feedback, attention is turning to pipeline structures and matching the se to particular markets. Christopher and Towill (2002) pointoutthat a one-size-flts-all ... 

New, S. (1996). A framework for analyzing supply chain improvement. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 76(4), 19-36. 

SCM Assessment Tools The supply chain and the product life cycle Model for classifying supply chain improvement projects SCM maturity matrices... 

In assessing information systems, integration is another frequently pursued goal. We encounter many supply chain improvement projects intended to integrate the enterprise. According to Hau Lee of Stanford, a company can be more or less integrated based on the following ... 

Here and in Section 5.1, we develop a framework for supply chain improvement projects in terms of potency. To help us begin and gain an understanding of contributions already available to us, we visit recent and not-so-recent thinking on strategy and operations. The models are useful in tracing how we have come to this point in our thinking about supply chains. In the next chapter we offer our version — a synthesis of these models — to help evaluate our supply chain potential for improvement. 

The individual company needs accurate financial data to make wise globalization decisions. Revenue and cost accounts, translated into improvement categories, are particularly useful. Table 7.1 describes the supply chain improvement categories we recommend and possible impacts from globalization on each category. 

Costs will always be a focus of supply chain improvement efforts. Taking cost out of supply chain operations is a never-ending task. These efforts will be for both strategic and tactical advantage. Most will involve support from information technology. This section describes some common and not-so-common approaches, including ... 

Strategy. The usual process for supply chain improvement sets result-type objectives. The strategy begins the project and delivers the roadmap for achieving the results. As the project proceeds, progressive elaboration causes the strategy and the follow-on projects to be redefined. 

Table 4.2 listed 16 supply chain types that form a supply chain spectrum. The spectrum was developed by observation of actual supply chains and classifying them into the 16 types. Table 9.3 lists these and comments on their centricity. Three types at the bottom (1 through 3) have no supply chain strategy at all. Most types seek operational excellence, the traditional goal of supply chain improvement. Types 15 and 16 are market centric, designed to be nimble in the face of changing customer requirements and new opportunities. 

For many companies like Motorola, supply chain improvement must begin inside company walls. This chapter is the first of four that address our second supply chain task, Implementing Collaborative Relationships. The task of building internal collaboration encompasses the roles of players within the organization in improving supply chain functions. A subsequent group of chapters (Chapters 17 through 21) describes... 

The Shewhart Cycle of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), taught by W. Edwards Deming in Japan, provides a durable and effective model for proceeding. The cycle has four steps that repeat — hence the term cycle — to continuously upgrade any process. Figure 13.2 shows the Shewhart Cycle. We describe the steps here in the context of supply chain improvement. For each step in the cycle, we list the tasks involved. 

Because we agree that tmi is required for success, we devote space to solidifying the concept. So here are some prescriptions for active management of the supply chain improvement cycle by top management. We begin with a clearer definition of just who is top management. 

As we discuss in the next section, an ambitious supply chain improvement effort will likely require a single, broad project or multiple projects. It would be to a company s advantage if project management practices for each were the same. An honest evaluation using the model in Table... 

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) supply chain improvement... 

The discussion of functional participation in Chapters 13 and 14 raised the issue of sponsorship for supply chain improvement projects. The individual sponsor appointment will depend on the nature of the project, the scope, and the motivation (strategic, catch-up, or financial). Needless to say, the sponsor should have a personal stake in project success. For development of the supply chain strategy, it is often the business unit CEO or managing director who is the sponsor. 

Because supply chain improvement is very much process oriented, having the process owner be the sponsor might also make sense. This individual is the focus point for issues affecting his or her process. The owner need not be a line manager responsible for the process or part of it. It could be a senior executive with a stake in process success. For example, the marketing executive could be the owner of order fulfillment. ... 

The initiative for supply chain improvement will come from a sponsor s firm. The sponsor is an executive who champions the effort. The sponsor s firm can be a dominant player in the supply chain or one with a major stake in the project s success. The sponsor should have completed the preparation steps described previously in this section and will likely be somewhere in the process of developing and implementing its supply chain strategy. Indeed, the sponsor s firm may have already completed internal restructuring tasks. 

Supply chain improvement projects design and build new processes or transform existing processes to be more customer-serving and efficient. Each year, organizations devote billions to these kinds of projects. Unfortunately, time, money, and effort are wasted because the improvements are local rather than enterprise or supply chain wide, failing to support strategic direction. This chapter and the ones that follow point to tools that increase chances for success. 

William Walker s observation reasonably raises the issue of documenting the supply chain network because the scope of the supply chain extends far beyond company boundaries. Supply chain improvement efforts bring the need for efficient tools to chart supply chain flows. These should reduce the risk of bogging down the effort in tedious and unneeded analysis work. 

Both top-down and bottom-up mapping are required in supply chain improvement efforts. Table 24.1 describes the role for process analysis in the application of these tools. A column in the table indicates the likely type of mapping — top down or bottom up. Depending on the needs of the organization, the Design Team can employ Table 24.1 in designing its documentation approach to a particular process. Teams should review the list to be sure they are capturing the information required to apply a listed concept or tool. 

Many companies undertake training of employees in the concepts and tools shown in Table 24.1. Much of this time is wasted without application to a process improvement effort. Supply chain improvement efforts are a good way to introduce Design Team members to process documentation as part of lean. Six Sigma, Total Quality initiatives, or unlabeled efforts. Process documentation and analysis skill is the core competency for these initiatives. 

Information systems — by virtue of expectations for improvement and the effort, time, and expense involved in their implementation — are a prominent feature in supply chain improvement. The Preface of this book profiled eight categories of supply chain software that included hundreds of product choices. In many companies, the centerpiece of the supply chain improvement effort is implementing information technology. 

Most companies will begin in the lower left-hand comer of Figure 27.1 (position lA). A company relies on its financial reporting system to make decisions about supply chain improvements. That information is confined to the company. All that is known about supply chain costs is what the company pays for the things it buys or the prices it gets for its products. The company also usually knows what end-users are paying for final products. 

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