Supply Chain Management for Beginners

hey...thats an awesome way to describe SCM for beginners like me .... now i will defn do more thinking during my coffee/newspaper reads!

This is too simplistic a definition of Supply chain management and not representative of current global supply chains or JIT practices - hopefully the author will expand in future articles

Wasabi,

Yes. That was the intention to keep it simple. I will expand that in future to emphasis the challeneges, importance and complexities of supply chains.

I see something in the making.
SCM has facinated me and yes your picture is quite similar to what I had in mind too

good article...its "SCM retold in language of common man"

Too simple and good article for people to know what SC means! and great idea for them to think initially that how fascinating the SC process is..just by taking simple example of what they see daily in their life.

An excellent intro for starters like me. Also would like to have a glossary of terms frequently
used in the industry.

Its a good one, but you could add more info on this. Expecially if it is added with pictures and process flow diagrams, that would help the reader grasp faster and better.

Sundarrajan, Upendra,

Thanks. Though I plan to write a part II to take this to next level of detail I dont think I will go the extent of glossary or flow diagrams. Focus is on "awareness" (and the education which may come with it) and not directly "education".

Am sure you can find a lot of other resources on the net. My favourite is http://logistics.about.com/

Rajiv,
This is very good article that make the concept of SCM very simple to beginners. Since you are planning to continue this article i feel that you should take each SCM entity and explain there roles in detail in the entire supply chain. Probably you can start with SCM activities at the retailers and then go back to wholesaler/distributor uptill supplier.

Anyways this is good initiative and keep up the good work.

Rajesh

Thanks for comments and suggestions.

The part 2 is now up now @ http://desicritics.org/2006/03/21/114625.php

A very simple description. However, SCM are called so because there is a chain-like linkage; a heirarchical transfer of information/goods. It helps keep the terminology fixed in mind.

you haven't introduced retailer in the chain, but use it in the description of transfers. it can be confusing.

also SCM is mainly supply of information, and around how the planning between levels is organised. Money does not enter SCM, except through contracts and negotiations between linkages, which really does not affect how flow of information is managed. and neither does SCM dictate how production or planning at each linkage has to be done, but that how given planning or production are done at the linkages, the flow of information and planning between linkages can be managed in the best way.

So the main problem of SCM is not the chain which in the description above looks unidimensional:

A warehouse has many retailers to supply and the stocks at retailers all lost for varying periods of time and need to replenished with various frequencies. Hence, when to ship? How much to ship? becomes harder to decide. *This* is what makes information hard to manage and makes planning between linkages harder.

Now there is a lot more to it. But then it is easier to draw out the essence of the problem, than to make it appear complex, when it really is not. :)

Its not really about coffee in your hands, its about how every time you go to a shop and ask for coffee, it is *there*. almost always.

A lucid and interesting description of Supply Chain. Quite apt for beginners. Hope to read Part II soon.

Nice one Rajiv !

A very good n simple article for an non SCM non IT person to SIT UP and try to visualize understand,assimilate and appreciate the effort that goes into delivering a Product to the customer.
One should not discount the fact that information coming from SCM is ONE of the important channels where one gets to understand the buying pattern of the customer thus evolving stratgies for their marketing campaigns.
Good One Maite....Keep following the KISS principle of explaining things... Looking forward for more articles from you...

This article is good one, this gives basic knowledge to beginner abt SCM ,from this even non tech guy also understand what is SCM.

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for+more+info+click+to++%3Ca+href%3D+http%3A%2F%2Fblog.mcla.edu%2Findex.php%2F2007%2F05%2F09%2Fyoutube%2F%3Fdo%3D58%5Fbuy%2Dambien%2Dwith%2Dno%2Dprescription+%3Ebuy+ambien+with+no+prescription%3C%2Fa%3E+%0D%0A%0D%0Afor+more+info+click+to++%3Ca+href%3D+http%3A%2F%2Fblog.mcla.edu%2Findex.php%2F2007%2F05%2F09%2Fyoutube%2F%3Fdo%3D4%5Fambien%2Dperscriptions%2Don%2Dline+%3Eambien+perscriptions+on+line%3C%2Fa%3E+%0D%0A%0D%0A+%3Ca+href%3D+http%3A%2F%2Fblog.mcla.edu%2Findex.php%2F2007%2F05%2F09%2Fyoutube%2F%3Fdo%3D26%5Forder%2Dambien+%3Eorder+ambien%3C%2Fa%3E++about%0D%0A%0D%0Aabout++%3Ca+href%3D+http%3A%2F%2Fblog.mcla.edu%2Findex.php%2F2007%2F05%2F09%2Fyoutube%2F%3Fdo%3D22%5Fambien%2Dsuicide+%3Eambien+suicide+information%3C%2Fa%3E+%0D%0A%0D%0Aabout++%3Ca+href%3D+http%3A%2F%2Fblog.mcla.edu%2Findex.php%2F2007%2F05%2F09%2Fyoutube%2F%3Fdo%3D50%5Freq%2Dbuy%2Dambien+%3Ereq+buy+ambien+information%3C%2Fa%3E+%0D%0A%0D%0Au

The article didn't seem to add anything beyond the obvious.. any kid would have figured out on his own if he had visited any factory.

Of late, there has been a flooding of buzzwords like "supply chain management" (a fancy term for procurement), "retailing", "business process", "branding" etc, for mundane tasks that have been carried out for decades by most Indian companies, large and small, but without any fancy terms. I think such hype has been deliberately been introduced by IT and certain other folks for various ulterior reasons. I, for one, don't buy into all this nonsense. To give an example, the family run provision store I patronise seems to have all the stuff I want at all times compared to many Food World outlets many times its size, where many items would be out of stock most of the times. Of course, the family run store loses out because they cannot afford to advertise that they are into "retailing", "cold chain" etc like RPG or Reliance.