Supply Chain Management is a process
oriented, Integrated approach to procuring, producing and
delivering products and services to the customers, interlinking
manufacturer, retailers, customers and suppliers in the form of a
chain to develop and deliver products as one virtual organization
of pooled skills and resources.
The concept of Supply Chain Management has
been evolving over the past many years, but the scope of SCM has
grown manifold during the decade only. At the earlier stage of its
development SCM was limited to a physical distribution management,
integrating warehousing and transportation to reduce inventory and
shorten order response time. The next stage in th3e SCM evolution
was marked by addition of manufacturing, procurement and order
management function, which was made possible through electronic
data interchange, communication and information technology
developments.
Today SCM is simed at integrating the
extended supply chain, connecting customers at one end and
suppliers at the other making it a highly complex
structure.
Prognosticating about the developments and
role of SCM in the future is not very easy but it is certain that
SCM will play the most critical part in providing competitive edge
to any organization.The shape that SCM will take in the future
greatly depends on the dynamicc of business and macro economics
such as consumer demands, globalization, competition,
communication and information technology
deveopments.
The three key stragies of growth i.e.,
customer franchise management, new product development and channel
management can be successful only if the company has the ability
to consistently and reliably eecute supply chain processes that
provide superior value to the customers.
After experimenting with downsizing
and re-engineering over the last decade, most of the companies
have realized that cost reduction as along term strategy is
not very viable as long-lived prosperity lies in revenue growth.
With growth as their top most priority, companies are
concentrating their focus on supply chain management because it
can help achieve growth through superior value proposition,
superior economics across the value chain and consistent superior
execution.
