Supply Chain Improvement
Supply chain improvement
Increasingly important in supply chain practice are attempts to improve supply chain performance.
These are usually attempts to understand the complexity of supply chain processes; others focus on coordinating activities throughout the chain.
• The SCOR model
The Supply Chain Operations Reference model (SCOR) is a broad, but highly structured and systematic, framework to supply chain improvement that has been developed by the Supply Chain Council (SCC), a global non-profit consortium. The framework uses a methodology, diagnostic and benchmarking tools that are increasingly widely accepted for evaluating and comparing supply chain activities and their performance. Just as important, the SCOR model allows its users to improve, and communicate supply chain management practices within and between all interested parties in their supply chain by using a standard language and a set of structured definitions. The SCC also provides a benchmarking database by which many companies can compare their supply chain performance to others in their industries and training classes.
• The effects of e-business on supply chain management practice
New information technology applications combined with internet-based e-business have transformed supply chain management practice. Largely, this is because they provide better and faster information to all stages in the supply chain. Information is the lifeblood of supply chain management. Without appropriate information, supply chain managers cannot make the decisions that coordinate activities and flows through the chain. Without appropriate information, each stage in the supply chain has relatively few cues to tell them what is happening elsewhere in the chain. To some extent, they are ‘driving blind’ and having to rely on the most obvious of mismatches between the activities of different stages in the chain to inform their decisions.
• Information-sharing
If information had been available and
Increasingly important in supply chain practice are attempts to improve supply chain performance.
These are usually attempts to understand the complexity of supply chain processes; others focus on coordinating activities throughout the chain.
• The SCOR model
The Supply Chain Operations Reference model (SCOR) is a broad, but highly structured and systematic, framework to supply chain improvement that has been developed by the Supply Chain Council (SCC), a global non-profit consortium. The framework uses a methodology, diagnostic and benchmarking tools that are increasingly widely accepted for evaluating and comparing supply chain activities and their performance. Just as important, the SCOR model allows its users to improve, and communicate supply chain management practices within and between all interested parties in their supply chain by using a standard language and a set of structured definitions. The SCC also provides a benchmarking database by which many companies can compare their supply chain performance to others in their industries and training classes.
• The effects of e-business on supply chain management practice
New information technology applications combined with internet-based e-business have transformed supply chain management practice. Largely, this is because they provide better and faster information to all stages in the supply chain. Information is the lifeblood of supply chain management. Without appropriate information, supply chain managers cannot make the decisions that coordinate activities and flows through the chain. Without appropriate information, each stage in the supply chain has relatively few cues to tell them what is happening elsewhere in the chain. To some extent, they are ‘driving blind’ and having to rely on the most obvious of mismatches between the activities of different stages in the chain to inform their decisions.
• Information-sharing
If information had been available and