Supply chain Internet applications

A traditional business s first encounter with e-commerce may well be as a supplier to one of the increasingly common Internet Web stores. Supply chain management is in fact a key, if not a critical, factor in the success of an Internet retailer. The number of products offered in a Web store depends not on available shelf space but on the retailer s ability to manage a complex sets of procurement, inventory, and sales functions. Amazon.com and eToys (http //www.etoys.com), for example, offer 10 times as many products as a typical neighborhood bookstore or toy shop would stock. The key application that enables these EC enterprises is an integrated supply chain. 

Online auctions for business are an extension of supply chain applications of the Internet, by which firms seek parts and supplies from a large pool of potential business partners. The real-time interaction in these auctions differs significantly from contract-based supply relationships, which may be stable but often inefficient in terms of costs. A more flexible and responsive supply chain relationship is required as the manufacturing process itself becomes more flexible to meet changing demands in real time. Especially for digital products, the business relationship between suppliers and producers may be defined by the requirement for immediate delivery of needed components. 

The reuse of products in secondary markets also entails some challenges for manufactorers, retailers, and even researchers. The availability of used products with lower prices in the market that compete directly with new products, the pricing of those new products, and frequency to upgrade ver-simis of a product are some of the topics that are the subject of concern for manufacturers. When e-commerce is the only source of contact with the customers, the customer service is totally dependent on the supply chain logistics. Thus, the continued process improvement, development of innovative software applications, and cost reductions become critical to compete in the current aggressive internet markets. Issues such as the impact of secondary markets in the supply chain, the impact on the strategy of original manufacturers, and retailers are topics of research interest. 

ICTs continue to have a major impact on business in general, and supply chains in particular. Technology allows the reduction or elimination of paperwork (with its attendant delays in trans-mission/reception and possible data corruption if information is re-entered). Both technologies and applications continue to evolve, with the Internet now providing an efficient, effective communication link for supply chain partners. The power of the Internet comes from its open standards and widespread availability, permitting easy, universal, secure access to a wide audience at very low cost. 

Just as the ASP approach in ERP provided a viable option for medium-sized firms to move to enterprise systems, on-demand supply chain solutions are now becoming available for some SMEs (Lewis, 2005). This approach shares SCM infrastructure (hardware, software, applications) across many companies, with access via the Internet. Over time, applications aimed at a variety of SMEs should become available at reasonable cost. 

McLaren, X, Head, M., Yuan, Y. (2002). Supply chain collaboration alternatives. Internet Research Electronic Network Applications and Policy, 72(4), 348-364. 

Web services Supply chain applications delivered over the Internet. These reduce the cost and complexity of forming links between supply chain partners and customers for products in the chain. They use shared standards to speed the job of developing links. (Adapted from The Strategic Value of Web Services from the McKinsey Quarterly and Business Processes and Web Services by Alan Kotok)... 

EDI/connection (e.g. XML-based) among supply chain members Real-time exchange of supply chain information between supply chain members collaborative planning systems, internet trading exchanges, B2B integration and application server systems 5-Supply Chain Governance o X X X X... 

In order to facihtate communications between software used by internal supply chain partners, multinational companies have tried very hard, but generally unsuccessfully, to standardize computer systems. The emergence of the Internet protocol has helped the interaction between powerful supply chain systems such as i2, Manugistics, Ariba, Oracle and SAP R/3 to name a few. The rigour and problems related to the vahdation process still remain. In spite of the complexity and regulatory requirements, or perhaps because of it, the healthcare industry remains a huge untapped market for e-supply chain. A recent study carried out in the USA by Efficient Healthcare Consumer Response (EHCR) consortium showed that the healthcare industry could reduce its overall supply chain costs by over US 11 billion (48 per cent of the current process cost) through the efficient application of collaborative e-supply chains. 

Internet technology has certainly enhanced the collaborative business culture by enabling on-fine transparent information and transactions. The companycentric enterprise application vendors (including SAP, Oracle, J D Edwards and PeopleSoft), are now building partnerships or alliances with supply chain vendors (e.g. Manugistics, i2) and looking to extend their customer relationship applications and e-commerce solutions out into the web. 

When the actual performance value is on or above target then the value is shown as green. If the actual is below the target but within a given tolerance then the colour becomes amber. It is depicted in red when the value is below the tolerance limit of the target. Another area of application is to assess the performance at the tactical operation level. Usually the top level indicators (also known as vital flow ) are designed in such a way that they can be cascaded to component measures and the root causes can be analysed. Basu (2002) emphasized the impact of new measures on the collaborative supply chain. The Internet-enabled supply chain or e-supply chain has extended the linear flow of... 

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... 

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