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Learning Objectives
• Learn about the supply chain network and management
drivers.

• Understand the complexity and importance of the

integration of supply chain.

• Learn about supply chain components, processes, and

flows.

• Know the different levels of supply chain integration.

• Examine the impact of the ERP on supply chain

management.

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 Preview
• A good supply chain management (SCM) system can
act as a digital nerve center for the entire business and
save the company millions of dollars in costs in order
fulfillment and other back-end support processes.

• SCM gives companies access to all of the critical

information they need to plan their operations in an
efficient way whenever and wherever they need it.

• SCM improves efficiencies and reduces costs

substantially while also giving companies the
adaptability to modify their business processes.

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 Supply Chain Management
• Supply chain is the network of services, material, and
information flow that link a firm’s customer relations,
order fulfillment, and supplier relations processes to
those of its suppliers and customers.

• Michael Potter
– A business value chain consists of a series of processes or
activities conducted by the company to add value to the existing
product or service and to provide a competitive advantage in the
market.

• Companies need to understand their supply chain and

build the strategy such that its competitive strategy and
supply chain strategy are aligned.
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 Supply Chain Management (Cont’d)
• Corporations are striving to focus on core competencies
and become more flexible and reduced their ownership
of raw materials sources and distribution channels.

• All the functions of a company’s supply chain contribute

to its success or failure and they all need to work
together to ensure success.

• To achieve strategic fit, a company must ensure that its

supply chain capabilities support its ability to satisfy the
targeted customer segments.

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Figure 11-1 Collaboration in Supply Chain
Information

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 SCM Drivers
Facilities
• Facilities are the places in the supply chain network
where product is manufactured, stored, or shipped.
• The two major types of facilities are production sites
(plants) and storage sites (warehouses).
• A company needs to decide how many suppliers,
manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, and
warehouses to have.
Information
• Information consists of data and analysis concerning
facilities, inventory, transportation, and customers
throughout the supply chain.

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 SCM Drivers (Cont’d)
Inventory
• Inventory is the raw materials, work in process, and
finished goods that belong to the company.

• A successful inventory management policy is to achieve

that right balance of responsiveness and efficiency.

Transportation
• Transportation moves the product between different
stages in a supply chain.

• The type of transportation a company uses also affects

the inventory and facility locations in the supply chain.

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 SCM Flows
Three Categories
• Product Flow - The product flow includes the movement
of goods from a supplier to a customer, as well as any
customer returns or service needs.

• Information Flow - The information flow involves

transmitting orders and updating the status of delivery.

• The finance Flow - The financial flow consists of credit

terms, payment schedules, and consignment and title
ownership arrangements.

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Figure 11-2 Flows in a Typical Supply Chain

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 Software and Technology
• Increasing numbers of companies are using the Internet
and Web-based applications as part of their SCM
solution.

• There are two main types of SCM software.

– Planning Applications: Use advanced algorithms to determine
the best way to fill an order.
– Execution Applications: Track the physical status of goods,
the management of materials, and financial information involving
all parties.

• Extended Enterprise
– Some SCM applications are based on open data models that
support the sharing of data both inside and outside the
enterprise.

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 SCM Processes
• Procurement
– Procurement is the business-to-business purchase and sale
of supplies and services.

• Outsourcing and Partnerships

– An arrangement in which a company provides services for
another company that could also be done or have usually
been provided in-house.

• Manufacturing Flow Management

– The manufacturing process is to produce and supply products
to the distribution channels based on past forecasts or point
of sales (POS) data.

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 SCM Processes (Cont’d)
• Order Fulfillment
– Process that responds to customer demand by
merging several important functions: order
management, storage, and delivery of finished goods.
• Customer Service Management Process
– Source of customer information and also provides the
customer with real-time information on promising
dates and product availability through interfaces with
the company’s production and distribution operations.
• Forecasting
– Seeks to predict levels of weekly or monthly product
activity over a time horizon.
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 E-business and Supply Chain Management
(E-SCM)
• A Web-enabled supply chain management (e-SCM)
solution is the digital nerve center of the entire business.

• e-SCM is the optimal combination of technology and

business processes that optimizes delivery of goods,
services, and information from the supplier to the
consumer in an organized and efficient way.

• e-SCM can use e-business concepts and Web

technologies to manage inventory and information
beyond the organization, both upstream and
downstream.

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 E-SCM Components
• Replenishment Systems

• E-procurement

• Collaborative Planning

• Collaborative Design and Product Development

• E-logistics

• Supply Webs (Exchanges)

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 ERP System and Supply Chain
• ERP focus is on providing an integrated transaction
processing that enhances organizational performance by
increasing information consistency and transaction
efficiency.

• SCM, on the other hand, are aimed at providing a higher

level of business planning and decision support
functionality for effective coordination and execution of
inter-organizational business processes.

• Web-based technologies have revolutionized the way

business is carried on and SCM and ERP are no
exceptions.

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Figure 11-3 Example of Enterprise Level Portal

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Figure 11-4 ERP/Legacy Systems Linkage
Across the Supply Chain

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 ERP versus SCM
Point of Comparison ERP SCM
Comprehensiveness Covers a wide range of Limited to specific supply
functionality chain functionality
Complexity Highly complex Relatively less complex
Sourcing tables Relatively static Relatively dynamic
Constraints handling All the demand, capacity, and Simultaneous handling of
material constraints are the constraints
considered in isolation of
each other
Functionality Relatively less dynamic Relatively more dynamic
because they are mainly because it performs
concerned with transaction simulations of transaction
processing speed and adjustments with regard
capacity to the constraints in real
time
Processing Speed Relatively slower Faster
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 Supply Chain Integration
• To stay competitive, enlightened companies have strived
to achieve greater coordination and collaboration among
supply chain partners.
• Information integration refers to the sharing of information
among members of the supply chain.
• Planning synchronization refers to the joint design and
execution of plans for product introduction, forecasting,
and replenishment.
• Workflow coordination refers to streamlined and
automated workflow activities between supply chain
partners.

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 Supply Chain Integration Dimensions
Dimension Elements Benefits
Information • Information sharing • Reduced bullwhip effect
Integration and transparency • Early problem detection
• Direct and real-time • Faster response
accessibility • Trust building
Synchronized • Collaborative planning, • Reduced bullwhip effect
Planning forecasting, and • Lower cost
replenishment • Optimized capacity utilization
• Joint design
• Improved service

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 Supply Chain Integration Dimensions (Cont’d)
Dimension Elements Benefits
Workflow • Coordinated production • Efficiency and accuracy gains
Coordination planning and operations, • Fast response
procurement, order • Improved service
processing, engineering
• Earlier time to market
change, and design
• Integrated, automated • Expanded network
business processes
New Business • Virtual resources • Better asset utilization
Models • Logistics restructuring • Higher efficiency
• Mass customization • Penetrate new markets
• New services • Create new products
• Click-and-mortar models

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 Integrating ERP and SCM Systems
• ERP systems help in automating the business processes
and enabling reliable information capture and retrieval.

• SCM systems offer capabilities to integrate various

entities that make up the supply chain and facilitate the
seamless flow of information between all the supply chain
partners.

• Integration of ERP and SCM is a very tough task because

each member in the supply chain may have different
hardware and software.

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 Enterprise Application Integration
• Facilitates the flow of information and straps
transactions among disparate and complex applications
and business processes within and among the
organizations.

• Provides a broad range of services that range from

security management to protocol management to data
mapping, among other related functions.

• Many of the companies today are embracing the

component-based applications either by developing a
new application or by componentizing their existing
applications.

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Phases of Enterprise Application Integration
Process
• Solution outline phase

• Architecture phase

• Design phase

• Implementation phase

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Benefits of Enterprise Application Integration
• Increased Efficiency: Automation of processes.
• Value of Information: Redundant databases are aligned,
eliminating duplicate data.
• Lower Costs: One interface per application lowering the
cost of upgrades.
• Increased Productivity: Results from business process
automation and access to real-time information.
• Improved Customer Service: Employees have real-time
access to give accurate information to customers.
• Enhanced Access: Ability to extend applications to more
users from anywhere and anytime over the VPN
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 RFID
• Allows for real-time automation of many data collection
functions originally conducted by paid employees.

• Hardware - Each hardware implementation will need to be

designed specifically to meet the needs of purchaser as
there are no off-the-shelf alternatives

• Software - Much easier to design. There are cases where

a near vanilla implementation would be sufficient giving
the company some cost savings

• Changing any process where these steps occur to

automated RFID data collection will eliminate the
possibility of human error
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 Implications for Management
• Managers should understand that SCM is an important
component for the successful implementation of ERP
systems.

• Balancing the supply chain efficiency and

responsiveness is more an art than science.

• E-Supply chain provides great competitive advantage in

today’s Web-enabled economy.

• Integrating is the key issue to the success of the supply

chain.
– Integration must occur at multiple levels, and not just at the network or
hardware platform level.

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 Summary
• Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a central piece of technology in
today’s enterprise system.
• SCM provides a link for services, materials, and information across
the value chain of the organization.
• ERP vendors have started including SCM as a component or module
of the software.
• There are four main drivers for the SCM system performance:
– Facilities
– Inventory
– Transportation
– Information
 Summary (Cont’d)
• SCM involves the operation or management of many
organizations’ processes and procedures.
• SCM plays a major role in the success of e-business and
e-commerce.
• A good SCM is designed in collaboration with the
organizations’ partners rather than stand-alone.
• Integration with SCM system is of many types (e.g.,
supply chain, ERP system, and enterprise application).
• Enterprise Application Integration process is very
complex and has a multiphase life cycle.

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 Review Questions
1. What are the motivations for an organization to have a
good supply chain management (SCM) system?
2. Define SCM in your own words.
3. List the four drivers of SCM and how they impact the
system’s responsiveness.
4. What are the major types of SCM software?
5. Briefly describe the SCM processes.
6. Why is SCM implementation critical for the success of
e-business?
7. What are the major components of e-SCM?
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