Supply chain management

Supply chain is a network of organization that work together to convert and move goods from the raw materials stage to the end customers.

Known also as the value chain, it is the sequence, which involves producing and delivering of a product or service.

While supply chain management often refers to coordinating multiple organizations, it can also refer to managing operations with a single organization.

Firms with large system inventories, many suppliers, complex product assemblies and highly valued customers with large purchasing budgets have the most to gain from the practice of supply chain management.

The supply chain should manage three important flows, namely, materials/products, information and financials.

Consider that Americans spend over $35 million per hour, 24 hours per day; 365 days of the year in Wal-Mart stores and the stores stock over 65,000 different items a year. None of the above is meant to imply that the supply chains that Wal-Mart is a part of operate perfectly each and every time.

There are five major trends that have merged to make supply chain management critical success factor in most industries.
*Proliferation in product lines
*Shorter product life cycles
*Higher level of outsourcing
*Shift in power structure in the chain
*Globalization of manufacturing
Supply chain management