SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT An increasingly competitive global economy has brought supply chain management to the top of the

agenda of senior business leaders all around the globe. Supply chain management is customer oriented and strives to know as well as serve the needs of the customer. Also, success of supply chain integration and synchronization will depend on people, process and technology. Competition shifting from industrial age to information age. Economies of scale and technology was important. The emergence of the information era, which started in the last decades of the twentieth century, made obsolete many of the fundamental assumptions of industrial age competition. Globalisation is defined as a process which cuts across national boundaries, integrating and connecting communities (including business) in new space-time combinations. As information technology (IT) is breaking down the barriers of time and location, distinctions between large and small companies are also breaking down. Supply Chain management : The role of SCM has changed considerably over the last three decades. In the 70s SCM primarily focused on the integration of warehousing and transportation within the firm.
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In the 1980s the focus of SCM shifted to re-engineering of cost structures. At the end of the 80s the focus of SCM shifted from reducing costs to improving customer service. Traditionally, the focus of companies has been on the flows within the organization or flows over which the organization has direct control. Successful SCM requires the recognition that the firm is simply one player in the long chain that starts with suppliers and includes transporters, distributors and customers. Close relationships between suppliers, manufacturers, transporters, distributors and customers are going to be the key to success in the times to come. Companies are recognizing that supply chain innovations can be not only a driver of cost reduction, but importantly, a catalyst for revenue growth by achieving higher levels of customer satisfaction. ANDERSON and LEE (1999) Companies will collaborate with supply chain partners and synchronize operations. Technology will be the key enabler of innovative supply chain strategy. Supply chain organization will be re-structured and re-skilled to achieve these goals.

SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY : Will have a major impact on creating value for a company and its supply chain partners. Strategy Framework : 1. Demand flow strategy 2. Collaboration strategy 3. Technology integration strategy 4. Customer service strategy Based on these strategies, an effective supply chain strategy may be formulated to meet the needs of the market and integrate them with technology to generate the highest level of customer satisfaction. Technology offers enormous competitive appeal but requires to have a vision and it is only the enabler in the transformation to a synchronized supply chain.

--Prof.S.C.Mishra

Demand Distortion in a Supply Chain

Shop Orders Quantity

Time

Consumption Qty Time Q ty

Chain orders Time

Supply Qty Time

Supply Requests Time

The supply chain is not synchronized to consumer demand. To secure higher service levels, both the wholesaler and the retailer chain feel the need to buffer against supply disruption.

Pull vs. Push : The traditional supply network is forecast driven and is operated to coordinate the different demand patterns created by the functions within the enterprise.
In the traditional push-based supply network, materials department procures based on marketing forecasts, production produces based on production cycle demand , distribution function distributes based on replenishment demand. Would have been nice if consumer/retail demand could also be pushed accordingly. Actual consumption pulls distribution, which in turn pulls production, in turn pulling material supply. This leads to synchronization with consumer/retail demand.