Supply Chain Fundamental Rethinking

The global marketplace today has no equivalent in the history of organisation. Like economies and financial markets, supply chains have become global and interconnected. The "buffers" in the system have been reduced so much that  have increased exposure to shocks and disruptions. Time, Cost, Speed & Quality attributes further increase the vulnerability of the supply chain. How are supply chain executives coping? We may learn something about it in the IBM research report of 400 supply chain executives. Follow the link below; ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/gbe03163usen/GBE03163USEN.PDF

Organisation today face significantly increased complexity in their value chains. The challenges of rising customer service requirements, rising logistics costs and increased supply chain risk exposure are growing with every passing day. In this situation, lack of visibility and need for collaboration becomes increased in significance.  In that context the below is a good  research paper by Aberdeen.  Aberdeen recently benchmarked over 150 companies with respect to their supply chain application deployment strategies including on-premise, SaaS, Managed services etc. This benchmark report explores the critical role that Cloud based solutions play in enabling visibility and collaboration for the extended Demand-Supply Networks. Please use to the below link to download the paper. http://www.kinaxis.com/campaign/scdigest-email-enabling-supply-chain-visibility/

A good video-cast to attend in March 2011.  Follow the link to register http://www.supplychainvideocasts.com/videocasts/dell_videocast.php#

Pharmaceuticals industry remains as one of the most complex supply chains. Although the Supply Chain cost as a percentage to COGS is lower than many other industries, the impact that supply chain has on the customer is the highest in comparison with any other industry. Gartner research has published their list of Top 25 Healthcare supply chains. The link below offers the synopsis http://www.gartner.com/resources/209100/209188/the_healthcare_supply_chain__209188.pdf

One more recall by Toyota...adds to the importance of risk management processes in organisations http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-26/toyota-to-recall-1-28-million-vehicles-in-japan-245-000-u-s-lexus-models.html

The rate of growth of the auto market will surely be one large trend for a long term.. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-20/volkswagen-expects-china-growth-to-slow-on-capacity-update2-.html

A good article.. http://www.scmr.com/article/global_supply_chain_disruptions_on_the_rise/

A perspective on integrating Sourcing & Procurement in Supply Chain A Primer on Sourcing and Procurement in an Integrated Supply Chain

The advent of technology solutions have made the communication & availability of data a key value addition to managing supply chains. The slew of application typically deployed across the supply chain involve DRP, MRP or ERP solutions. Recently organisations have found utility of connecting the "shop floor to the top floor" through the use of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). Tracking & Tracing of inventory has increased due to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). One the probable ways to improve strategy, planning & execution of good inventory management across the organisation can be through integrating these two pieces of independent technology solutions. MES integrated with RFID has shown sustainable benefits of improved visibility to inventory.  Hence the focus of  best in class supply chain adopting MRP & RFID due to various competitive reasons has shifted from "Why" to  implement to "How" to implement the integration solution...

A good video on Basics of Supply Chain Management