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Supply-Chain Management

Supply-Chain Management Introduction Supply chains represent networks of facilities and distribution options which are specifically chosen by managers as the most efficient routes for survival, organizational evolution, and expansion. The supply chain performs the function of procuring materials, transforming those materials into intermediate and finished products, and distributing these finished products to customers (Ganeshan and Harrison, 2009). They exist in both service and manufacturing organizations, with the complexity of the chain varying according to industry and firm. The skeleton of the supply chain works like this: raw material is procured from vendors and in the first step of the supply chain and transformed into finished goods. In the second step the goods are transported to distribution centers, and then customers. Supply chains commonly have multiple end products with shared components, facilities and capacities.

Background The different phases of the chain each have their own autonomous operations, or departments. Different organizations are represented at different phases of the supply chain, as far as consultation and assisting services are concerned. This has given rise to the clear need for a mechanism by which these different functions can be integrated together. Supply chain management then is a strategy through which this integration can be achieved, and has given rise to many different sciences of approach, among them Six Sigma, FIR and cycle time reduction.

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The way supply chain management works is this: supply chain management is typically viewed to lie between fully integrated firms. One firm owns the entire material flow, but each channel member operates independently. Effective management relies on the efficiency of coordination between different channels of the supply chain. Research compares supply chain management to a well-balanced and well-practiced relay team (Ganeshan and Harrison, 2009). Teams are more competitive...