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Essay on Supply Chain Management Developments

This is the first 1,000 characters of 5325 words (21.3 pages) in the essay titled Supply Chain Management Developments

Supply Chain Management Developments
   
   

   
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 ¾ 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 sus

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