Supply chain management is emerging as one of the decade's most powerful business practices. It is transforming the way manufactures operate and work with partners even the way they think about business. Why all the sudden interest? Mere observation of industrial practice brings to light a simple truth; very few materials remain in the constant ownership of one person, persons or company from their source to the time they are sold to the end customer. "Almost invariably, material flows through a series of 'players' whose role may be to transform (manufacturing plants), store (warehouses) or move (distributors) material." This results in the establishment of complex systems that industry has labeled supply chains or supply networks. Supply chains are not new; they have been around as long as the market place. Historically, however, each supply chain "link" tended to regard its role as satisfying the demand of its immediate customer. "A more holistic view point suggests that each is just a part of a wider supply chain system whose role is to satisfy end customer demand. This refocusing of the company roles in terms of end customer satisfaction is in line with a systems thinking approach to management." From a conceptual viewpoint, one could view the ideal supply chain as a pipeline with laminar flow. Traditionally, most supply chains simply evolved rather than being designed. This fact makes supply chains susceptible to turbulence. "Companies are discovering that the vast majority of supply chains are logistically inefficient and therefore prone to poor supply chain dynamic behavior." Because of the huge success of a couple of retaliators, the concepts of supply chain design have come to the forefront. Supply chain is one of the big "buzzwords", or in this case phrase, in the U.S. industry today. What does all of this mean for the mom and pop stores? Probably not a whole lot for now. Those who are currently using t...
