Supply Chain Matters

Supply chain management is a complex system with complex processes with increasing complexity. Today, complexity reigns. It is a time of increasing volatility, prodnct personalization, and proliferation of new channels. All of these shifts increase business complexity. 

The increase in product proliferation adds costs. Supply organizations have been challenged to improve efficiency (lowest cost per case) in the face of this rising complexity. The focus is how to do more with less. 

Supply chain cannot be done effectively on an island. 

Predictability based on forecast accuracy vs. actual order profiles 

As products proliferate, horizontal processes become more important. If this does not happen, the long tail of the supply chain whips the supply chain into chaos, making it tongher to have visibility to make the right decisions in supply chain execution. Without clarity, employees in the factory are unclear abont what to make when or what to ship on which truck to which customers. 

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When you contrast Apple and Dell to Motorola, it is easy to see why supply chain matters. The differences are many. Apple and Dell had a focused supply chain vision at the corporate level and it was embedded in the company strategy. Motorola did not. Motorola made... 

For manufacturers, retailers, and distributors, the supply chain is business. The book is a compilation of stories, quotes, and anecdotes. The stories are rich. In telling them, we tried to make it anything but mundane. To understand the evolution, we interviewed 75 supply chain pioneers, and analyzed 25 years of financial data. We wanted to understand why the supply chain matters today, and how companies need to prepare for the next decade. The book is dedicated to the... 

The example of the textile chain demonstrates (i) how much the techni-cal/aesthetic quality of products and chemicals-related product security are interdependent and (ii) what requirements exist for a quality management system beyond the supply chain level. Only the major brands can take this initiative on a global scale. For cosmetic, medical devices and food products, as well as technical products with high safety requirements (such as aircraft), management systems beyond supply chain level have now become a matter of survival. The same holds true for products that are subject to special waste and design regulations in Europe (such as automotive vehicles and electronic equipment). 

At the center of today s supply chain optimization technology are complex algorithms that can examine millions of variables and solve increasingly complex problems in ever-shortening time frames, enabling solutions in a matter of hours rather than days. 

Implications matter. The business impact of the evolution of supply chain practices is far-reaching. To snpport the evolution, an entire ecosystem of software, consulting, and hardware companies dedicated to improving supply chain processes evolved. 

The bricks pave the evolution of supply chain processes. In the 30-year evolution, as shown in Figure 1.2, three types of bricks mattered the right use of assets or buildings expansion into Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIG countries) and the knowledge to build supply chain... 

No two supply chains are alike. They come in many forms and definitions. While companies may argue on the definition of a supply chain, no one in manufacturing and distribution organizations will disagree that it matters. Over the last 30 years, it has become clear that supply chain practices both build and destroy brands. While failure can have a quick and deleterious impact, success can be seen only over many, many years. Although the stories of the losers fill headlines, the untold story is the one of quiet leaders using supply chain processes over the course of many years to improve corporate viability. 

Consistent definitions matter. When it comes to supply chain benchmarking, the basics matter. Definitions, granularity, and frequency of the process need to align for data to be relevant. 

Daily data used daily. In each company, data matters. Dell and Apple run their supply chain on daily data used daily from... 

Implemented projects without a holistic plan. For most companies, the implementation of projects has been without a holistic plan. As companies now attempt to digest their many projects and technologies from the last 30 years, it vdll be hard for them to connect the dots and string them together. For many this will force reimplementation. Supply chain strategy matters more now than ever. 

The original supply chain pioneers came from the world of manufacturing. For them, there was no question that bricks mattered. They knew manufacturing well, but few understood procurement and distribution processes. Today, this is changing. The impact is large. 

Failure gave birth to supply chain horizontal processes. Today s leaders in horizontal process evolution—Cisco Systems, Coca-Cola, IBM, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, and Walmart—all learned the need for horizontal processes the hard way. Each stubbed its big toe and stumbled before learning that bricks matter. 

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... 

Bricks matter the role of supply chains ui building market-driven differentiation / Lora M. Cecere, Charles W. Chase, pages cm. — (WUey SAS business series)... 

However, supply chains are complex. It is difficult to find who has the relevant information and, in some cases, confidentiality matters may impede communication. In many cases enquiring about information will need time and determination. Table 6.1 can help in such an aim by providing the actors in the supply chain what information on substances in preparations and articles they are required to forward to their customers and what information they may make available voluntarily. Table 6.1 gives an overview of the information requirements. 

Levenburg,N.M. (2005). Does size matter Small firms use of e-business tools in the supply chain. Electronic Markets, 75(2), 94-105. 

Kumaraswamy, M., Palaneeswaran, E. (2000). Selection matters— in construction supply chain optimisation. International Journal of Physical Distribution Logistics Management, 30(7/8), 661-680. 

No company — or supply chain, for that matter — will stay in business if it just covers direct costs. They must recover fixed costs as well. But awareness of direct costing and its impact on behavior is important to supply chain decisions on pricing and investments. A decision to participate as a supply chain partner should consider direct costs and contribution to profit. In our Acme case study (see Chapter 10), the company chose to focus on high contribution, as opposed to high contribution margin business as part of its strategy. If our houseware executive had followed the same path, the company would have taken the Sears offer. 

TOC argues that the CCR, as the constraint on capacity of the total system, needs special attention. If demand exceeds capaeity, gaining one extra unit of capacity at the CCR increases the output of the whole system. In fact, TOC would say that improvements elsewhere in the supply ehain are illusory. They really do not matter that much because they do not increase the capacity of the overall supply chain. 

Making money from the supply chain Pricing and cost always matter but ways of measuring and managing supply chain processes will change. Chapters 26-31... 

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