Operating a chaos-tolerant supply chain in a world of increasing uncertainty is an impossible mission unless you have business-specific SCM software that helps you manage complexity and increase your profitability, competitiveness, and growth.Infor SCM (Supply Chain Management) meets the challenge with specialized functionality that takes into account the different supply chain perspectives and unique business challenges of manufacturers, retailers, and transportation and logistics service providers. By partnering with Infor, you're assured of having comprehensive SCM solutions delivered by a single vendor, with best practices and low total cost of ownership built in, that match all of your business priorities from network design/order inception to delivery-from concept to customer.
Infor's supply chain logistics and inventory management software solutions help companies like yours:
Reduce supply chain operational costs for increased profitability
Improve customer service to enhance competitiveness
Manage growth and expansion to improve revenues and market share
Become supply chain leaders
Infor Supply Chain Management is a global solution with implementations at over 1,600 customer sites in 40 countries. Backed by domain experts who know supply chain management and the challenges you face, our supply chain planning and execution solutions comprise the following key components:
Strategic Network Design —modeling and optimization tools for determining the most effective number, location, size, and capacity of facilities to meet customer service goals; time-phased tactical planning for determining where and when to make, buy, store, and move product through the network.
Demand Planning —forecasting tools, web-based collaboration interface, and sales and operations reporting and metrics that help companies predict and shape customer demand with greater accuracy.
Distribution Planning —inventory analysis and time-variable stock target calculations for ensuring the optimal balance between service levels and inventory investment; synchronized replenishment plans for all network points right back to manufacturing and supplier sources for better visibility.
Manufacturing Planning —constraint-based advanced planning system for engineering, assembly, and repetitive manufacturing environments; similar tools for process manufacturers.
Production Scheduling —finite capacity scheduling for engineering, assembly, and repetitive environments, as well as batch-process production facilities.
Transportation and Logistics Planning —transportation planning, transportation procurement, route planning, transportation management, small parcel shipping, and international trade logistics for global, multi-modal operations.
Warehouse Management System —end-to-end fulfillment and distribution including inventory, labor, and work and task management, as well as cross-docking, value-added services, yard management, multiple inventory ownership and billing/invoicing, and voice-directed distribution. RFID —comprehensive RFID-enablement framework delivering business value through process optimization for manufacturers and other companies, as well as compliance solutions for retail, pharmaceuticals, the US Department of Defense, and others.
Event Management —proactive, real-time exception management technology for detecting conditional change anywhere in the supply chain and communicating it instantly for resolution.
See more detail http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
Saturday, November 14, 2009
SCOR® User Seminar and SCC Member Meetings
The SCOR® User Seminar and Member Meeting offers an overview of all projects currently underway within the Supply Chain Council that support next year’s release of Supply Chain Operations Reference model (SCOR) Version 10. The Seminar will also feature two parallel tracks that include detailed presentations by SCOR and DCOR implementers. The program demonstrates a variety of ways SCOR and other frameworks can be implemented to deliver significant supply chain savings and improve performance. The Board of Directors will be present for networking and listening to what members and potential members are seeking from the Council. Board members will present a special report on how the SCC is moving ahead strategically. Date: 2010-01-19
See more detail SCORE at http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
See more detail SCORE at http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
Lean and the Extended Value Stream
What is lean? "Lean" is the name that James Womack gave to the Toyota Production System in the book the Machine that Changed The World. Lean was the term that best described Toyota's system versus the rest of the world's automotive manufacturers at the time. Many companies have since applied lean thinking to their organizations with varying degrees of success. Applying lean to the entire supply chain is not a new concept, but very few have had success doing it.
What is the value stream? The value stream includes all of the actions required to get a product or service into the hands of the customer. It includes both material and information flow. The extended value stream is the value stream that includes the entire supply chain including several tiers of suppliers, facilities, and customers.
What is a value stream map? Value stream mapping, a methodology introduced to the U.S. in the book Learning to See by John Shook and Mike Rother published by the Lean Enterprise Institute, is a tool Toyota uses for identifying waste in the value stream and creating an improvement plan. The current state map is a graphical representation of the value stream showing material and information flow as it currently exists. The future state map shows an improved value stream with less inventory and a shorter lead time as flow, pull, and leveling (all tenets of the Toyota Production System) are introduced. The ultimate purpose of value stream mapping is to increase profitability (though many have lost sight of this goal) and cash flow.
See more detail at http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
What is the value stream? The value stream includes all of the actions required to get a product or service into the hands of the customer. It includes both material and information flow. The extended value stream is the value stream that includes the entire supply chain including several tiers of suppliers, facilities, and customers.
What is a value stream map? Value stream mapping, a methodology introduced to the U.S. in the book Learning to See by John Shook and Mike Rother published by the Lean Enterprise Institute, is a tool Toyota uses for identifying waste in the value stream and creating an improvement plan. The current state map is a graphical representation of the value stream showing material and information flow as it currently exists. The future state map shows an improved value stream with less inventory and a shorter lead time as flow, pull, and leveling (all tenets of the Toyota Production System) are introduced. The ultimate purpose of value stream mapping is to increase profitability (though many have lost sight of this goal) and cash flow.
See more detail at http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Operational Supply Chain Management
Introduction
Operational supply chain decisions are made hundreds of times each day in a company. These are the decisions that are made at business locations that affect how products are developed, sold, moved and manufactured.
Operational decisions are made with awareness of the strategic and tactical decisions that have been adopted within a company. These higher level decisions are made to create a framework within the company’s supply chain operate and to the best competitive advantage. The day to day operational supply chain decisions ensure that the products efficiently move along the supply chain achieving the maximum cost benefit. A number of examples of operational decisions can be identified in manufacturing, supplier relationships and logistics.
Manufacturing
Companies make tactical decisions with regards to manufacturing, such as the adoption of kanban and just-in-time. However, if the local manufacturing site is unable to rely on certain supplier’s delivery times, the just-in-time method may not be suitable for some product lines. The local plant management may make an operational decision to keep certain items in stock to ensure that production is not halted. This inventory will increase costs, but a greater cost would be incurred if the production line was brought to a standstill due to a lack of items from a supplier.
Suppliers
Global suppliers and negotiated contracts are decisions made at a company level to take advantage of the company’s global buying power. This offers considerable cost savings, but local sites may have to make operational decisions with suppliers to ensure an efficient supply chain. In some instances local negotiations with global suppliers are required to ensure quality of the product. For example, in some countries the quality of the product produced by a supplier is not at the same level as other countries. The local management would have to make an operational decision to negotiate with the supplier for them to create a product with a higher quality to ensure the quality of the finished product.
Logistics
Strategic and tactical supply chain decisions in the logistics process often focus on the use of third party logistics companies (3PL). Many companies have identified the cost benefits of these 3PL companies and have integrated them into their supply chain. However, in some instances these 3PL companies may not operate in all regions where the company requires logistics. In those cases the local management has to make operational decisions on leasing local warehousing and negotiating with regional logistics companies.
Although strategic and tactical supply chain decisions are made to bring the greatest efficiencies at the lowest cost, the daily operations of the supply chain require that local management make hundreds of operational decisions. These operational decisions are made within the framework created by the strategic and tactical processes and not made in isolation.
More information see http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
Operational supply chain decisions are made hundreds of times each day in a company. These are the decisions that are made at business locations that affect how products are developed, sold, moved and manufactured.
Operational decisions are made with awareness of the strategic and tactical decisions that have been adopted within a company. These higher level decisions are made to create a framework within the company’s supply chain operate and to the best competitive advantage. The day to day operational supply chain decisions ensure that the products efficiently move along the supply chain achieving the maximum cost benefit. A number of examples of operational decisions can be identified in manufacturing, supplier relationships and logistics.
Manufacturing
Companies make tactical decisions with regards to manufacturing, such as the adoption of kanban and just-in-time. However, if the local manufacturing site is unable to rely on certain supplier’s delivery times, the just-in-time method may not be suitable for some product lines. The local plant management may make an operational decision to keep certain items in stock to ensure that production is not halted. This inventory will increase costs, but a greater cost would be incurred if the production line was brought to a standstill due to a lack of items from a supplier.
Suppliers
Global suppliers and negotiated contracts are decisions made at a company level to take advantage of the company’s global buying power. This offers considerable cost savings, but local sites may have to make operational decisions with suppliers to ensure an efficient supply chain. In some instances local negotiations with global suppliers are required to ensure quality of the product. For example, in some countries the quality of the product produced by a supplier is not at the same level as other countries. The local management would have to make an operational decision to negotiate with the supplier for them to create a product with a higher quality to ensure the quality of the finished product.
Logistics
Strategic and tactical supply chain decisions in the logistics process often focus on the use of third party logistics companies (3PL). Many companies have identified the cost benefits of these 3PL companies and have integrated them into their supply chain. However, in some instances these 3PL companies may not operate in all regions where the company requires logistics. In those cases the local management has to make operational decisions on leasing local warehousing and negotiating with regional logistics companies.
Although strategic and tactical supply chain decisions are made to bring the greatest efficiencies at the lowest cost, the daily operations of the supply chain require that local management make hundreds of operational decisions. These operational decisions are made within the framework created by the strategic and tactical processes and not made in isolation.
More information see http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
Introduction to Supply Chain Management
If your company makes a product from parts purchased from suppliers, and those products are sold to customers, then you have a supply chain. Some supply chains are simple, while others are rather complicated. The complexity of the supply chain will vary with the size of the business and the intricacy and numbers of items that are manufactured.
Elements of the Supply Chain
A simple supply chain is made up of several elements that are linked by the movement of products along it. The supply chain starts and ends with the customer.
Customer: The customer starts the chain of events when they decide to purchase a product that has been offered for sale by a company. The customer contacts the sales department of the company, which enters the sales order for a specific quantity to be delivered on a specific date. If the product has to be manufactured, the sales order will include a requirement that needs to be fulfilled by the production facility.
• Planning: The requirement triggered by the customer’s sales order will be combined with other orders. The planning department will create a production plan to produce the products to fulfill the customer’s orders. To manufacture the products the company will then have to purchase the raw materials needed.
• Purchasing: The purchasing department receives a list of raw materials and services required by the production department to complete the customer’s orders. The purchasing department sends purchase orders to selected suppliers to deliver the necessary raw materials to the manufacturing site on the required date.
• Inventory: The raw materials are received from the suppliers, checked for quality and accuracy and moved into the warehouse. The supplier will then send an invoice to the company for the items they delivered. The raw materials are stored until they are required by the production department.
• Production: Based on a production plan, the raw materials are moved inventory to the production area. The finished products ordered by the customer are manufactured using the raw materials purchased from suppliers. After the items have been completed and tested, they are stored back in the warehouse prior to delivery to the customer.
• Transportation: When the finished product arrives in the warehouse, the shipping department determines the most efficient method to ship the products so that they are delivered on or before the date specified by the customer. When the goods are received by the customer, the company will send an invoice for the delivered products.
Supply Chain Management
To ensure that the supply chain is operating as efficient as possible and generating the highest level of customer satisfaction at the lowest cost, companies have adopted Supply Chain Management processes and associated technology. Supply Chain Management has three levels of activities that different parts of the company will focus on: strategic; tactical; and operational.
• Strategic: At this level, company management will be looking to high level strategic decisions concerning the whole organization, such as the size and location of manufacturing sites, partnerships with suppliers, products to be manufactured and sales markets.
• Tactical: Tactical decisions focus on adopting measures that will produce cost benefits such as using industry best practices, developing a purchasing strategy with favored suppliers, working with logistics companies to develop cost effect transportation and developing warehouse strategies to reduce the cost of storing inventory.
• Operational: Decisions at this level are made each day in businesses that affect how the products move along the supply chain. Operational decisions involve making schedule changes to production, purchasing agreements with suppliers, taking orders from customers and moving products in the warehouse.
More information see http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
Elements of the Supply Chain
A simple supply chain is made up of several elements that are linked by the movement of products along it. The supply chain starts and ends with the customer.
Customer: The customer starts the chain of events when they decide to purchase a product that has been offered for sale by a company. The customer contacts the sales department of the company, which enters the sales order for a specific quantity to be delivered on a specific date. If the product has to be manufactured, the sales order will include a requirement that needs to be fulfilled by the production facility.
• Planning: The requirement triggered by the customer’s sales order will be combined with other orders. The planning department will create a production plan to produce the products to fulfill the customer’s orders. To manufacture the products the company will then have to purchase the raw materials needed.
• Purchasing: The purchasing department receives a list of raw materials and services required by the production department to complete the customer’s orders. The purchasing department sends purchase orders to selected suppliers to deliver the necessary raw materials to the manufacturing site on the required date.
• Inventory: The raw materials are received from the suppliers, checked for quality and accuracy and moved into the warehouse. The supplier will then send an invoice to the company for the items they delivered. The raw materials are stored until they are required by the production department.
• Production: Based on a production plan, the raw materials are moved inventory to the production area. The finished products ordered by the customer are manufactured using the raw materials purchased from suppliers. After the items have been completed and tested, they are stored back in the warehouse prior to delivery to the customer.
• Transportation: When the finished product arrives in the warehouse, the shipping department determines the most efficient method to ship the products so that they are delivered on or before the date specified by the customer. When the goods are received by the customer, the company will send an invoice for the delivered products.
Supply Chain Management
To ensure that the supply chain is operating as efficient as possible and generating the highest level of customer satisfaction at the lowest cost, companies have adopted Supply Chain Management processes and associated technology. Supply Chain Management has three levels of activities that different parts of the company will focus on: strategic; tactical; and operational.
• Strategic: At this level, company management will be looking to high level strategic decisions concerning the whole organization, such as the size and location of manufacturing sites, partnerships with suppliers, products to be manufactured and sales markets.
• Tactical: Tactical decisions focus on adopting measures that will produce cost benefits such as using industry best practices, developing a purchasing strategy with favored suppliers, working with logistics companies to develop cost effect transportation and developing warehouse strategies to reduce the cost of storing inventory.
• Operational: Decisions at this level are made each day in businesses that affect how the products move along the supply chain. Operational decisions involve making schedule changes to production, purchasing agreements with suppliers, taking orders from customers and moving products in the warehouse.
More information see http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
Lean Supply Chain Management
Introduction
Lean supply chain management is not exclusively for those companies who manufacture products, but by businesses who want to streamline their processes by eliminating waste and non-value added activities. Companies have a number of areas in their supply chain where waste can be identified as time, costs or inventory. To create a leaner supply chain companies must examine each area of the supply chain.
Many businesses have complex purchasing operations. Large companies often have corporate purchasing groups as well as local purchasing. This can lead to vendors being given multiple contracts leading to variations in prices depending on location. Companies that practice lean supply chain management reduce their procurement function so that each vendor has one point of contact, one contract and offers one price for all locations. Businesses are looking to new technologies to assist them in improving procurement processes. These include internet based purchasing that allows requisitioners to purchase items from vendor’s catalogs containing company wide contract prices. Changes in payment options to vendors can also streamline processes. Companies that use a two-way match, which is payment on receipt rather than payment on invoice, will reduce resources in their purchasing department as well as improve supplier relationships.
Manufacturing
Lean supply chain management gained popularity in the manufacturing area as this is where significant improvement can be achieved. Manufacturing processes can be improved to reduce waste and resources while maintaining operational performance. Companies who have adopted lean supply chain practices have examined each of their routings, bill of materials and equipment to identify where improvements can be achieved.
Warehousing
Warehouse processes should be examined to find areas of eliminating waste of resources and non-value added steps. One area the companies should always be working on is the reduction of unnecessary inventory. The accumulation of inventory requires resources to store and maintain it. By reducing unnecessary inventory, a company can minimize warehousing space and handling, in turn reducing overall costs.
Transportation
Businesses who want to implement lean processes often look to their transportation procedures to see where they can be streamlined. In many instances companies find that their efforts to improve customer satisfaction leads to poor shipping decisions. Orders are shipped without combining additional orders to minimize costs or expensive shipping options are selected because of a customer request. Businesses often find that they are using a number of shippers unnecessarily when they could be reducing their shipping options and reduce overall costs.
Conclusion
Lean supply chain management requires businesses to examine every process in their supply chain and identify areas that are using unnecessary resources, which can be measured in dollars, time or raw materials. This will improve the company’s competitiveness as well as improve the company’s overall profitability.
More inormation see http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
Lean supply chain management is not exclusively for those companies who manufacture products, but by businesses who want to streamline their processes by eliminating waste and non-value added activities. Companies have a number of areas in their supply chain where waste can be identified as time, costs or inventory. To create a leaner supply chain companies must examine each area of the supply chain.
Many businesses have complex purchasing operations. Large companies often have corporate purchasing groups as well as local purchasing. This can lead to vendors being given multiple contracts leading to variations in prices depending on location. Companies that practice lean supply chain management reduce their procurement function so that each vendor has one point of contact, one contract and offers one price for all locations. Businesses are looking to new technologies to assist them in improving procurement processes. These include internet based purchasing that allows requisitioners to purchase items from vendor’s catalogs containing company wide contract prices. Changes in payment options to vendors can also streamline processes. Companies that use a two-way match, which is payment on receipt rather than payment on invoice, will reduce resources in their purchasing department as well as improve supplier relationships.
Manufacturing
Lean supply chain management gained popularity in the manufacturing area as this is where significant improvement can be achieved. Manufacturing processes can be improved to reduce waste and resources while maintaining operational performance. Companies who have adopted lean supply chain practices have examined each of their routings, bill of materials and equipment to identify where improvements can be achieved.
Warehousing
Warehouse processes should be examined to find areas of eliminating waste of resources and non-value added steps. One area the companies should always be working on is the reduction of unnecessary inventory. The accumulation of inventory requires resources to store and maintain it. By reducing unnecessary inventory, a company can minimize warehousing space and handling, in turn reducing overall costs.
Transportation
Businesses who want to implement lean processes often look to their transportation procedures to see where they can be streamlined. In many instances companies find that their efforts to improve customer satisfaction leads to poor shipping decisions. Orders are shipped without combining additional orders to minimize costs or expensive shipping options are selected because of a customer request. Businesses often find that they are using a number of shippers unnecessarily when they could be reducing their shipping options and reduce overall costs.
Conclusion
Lean supply chain management requires businesses to examine every process in their supply chain and identify areas that are using unnecessary resources, which can be measured in dollars, time or raw materials. This will improve the company’s competitiveness as well as improve the company’s overall profitability.
More inormation see http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Strategic Supply Chain Management
Introduction
Supply chain management operates at three levels; strategic, tactical and operational. At the strategic level, company management makes high level strategic supply chain decisions that are relevant to whole organization. The decisions that are made with regards to the supply chain should reflect the overall corporate strategy that the organization is following.
The strategic supply chain processes that management has to decide upon will cover the breadth of the supply chain. These include product development, customers, manufacturing, vendors and logistics.
Product Development
Senior Management has to define a strategic direction when considering the products that the company should manufacture and offer to their customers. As product cycles mature or products sales decline, management has to make strategic decisions to develop and introduce new versions of existing products into the marketplace, rationalize the current product offering or whether develop a new range of products and services. These strategic decisions may include the need to acquire another company or sell existing businesses. However, when making these strategic product development decisions, the overall objectives of the firm should be the determining factor.
Customers
At the strategic level, a company has to identify the customers for its products and services. When company management makes strategic decisions on the products to manufacture, they need to then identify the key customer segments where company marketing and advertising will be targeted.
Manufacturing
At the strategic level, manufacturing decisions define the manufacturing infrastructure and technology that is required. Based on high level forecasting and sales estimates, the company management has to make strategic decisions on how products will be manufactured. The decisions can require new manufacturing facilities to be built or to increase production at exiting facilities. However, if the overall company objectives include moving manufacturing overseas, then the decisions may lean towards using subcontracting and third party logistics. As environmental issues influence corporate policy to a greater extent, this may influence strategic supply chain decisions with regards to manufacturing.
Suppliers
Company management has to decide on the strategic supply chain policies with regards to suppliers. Reducing the purchasing spend for a company can directly relate to an increase in profit and strategically there are a number of decisions that can be made to obtain that result. Leveraging the total company’s purchases over many businesses can allow company management to select strategic global suppliers who offer the greatest discounts. But these decisions have to correspond with the overall company objectives. If a company has adopted policies on quality, then strategic decisions on suppliers will have to fall within the overall company objective.
Logistics
As well as strategic decisions on manufacturing locations, the logistics function is key to the success of the supply chain. Order fulfillment is an important part of the supply chain and company management need to make strategic decisions on the logistics network. The design and operation of the network has a significant influence on the performance of the supply chain. Strategic decisions are required on warehouses, distribution centers which transportation modes should be used. If the overall company objectives identify the use of more third party subcontracting, the company may strategically decide to use third party logistics companies in the supply chain.
Strategic decisions determine the overall direction of company’s supply chain. They should be made in conjunction with the companies overall objectives and not biased towards any particular product or regional location. These high level decisions can be refined, as required, to the specific needs of the company at the lower levels which allow for tactical and operational supply chain decisions to be made.
See more detail at http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
Supply chain management operates at three levels; strategic, tactical and operational. At the strategic level, company management makes high level strategic supply chain decisions that are relevant to whole organization. The decisions that are made with regards to the supply chain should reflect the overall corporate strategy that the organization is following.
The strategic supply chain processes that management has to decide upon will cover the breadth of the supply chain. These include product development, customers, manufacturing, vendors and logistics.
Product Development
Senior Management has to define a strategic direction when considering the products that the company should manufacture and offer to their customers. As product cycles mature or products sales decline, management has to make strategic decisions to develop and introduce new versions of existing products into the marketplace, rationalize the current product offering or whether develop a new range of products and services. These strategic decisions may include the need to acquire another company or sell existing businesses. However, when making these strategic product development decisions, the overall objectives of the firm should be the determining factor.
Customers
At the strategic level, a company has to identify the customers for its products and services. When company management makes strategic decisions on the products to manufacture, they need to then identify the key customer segments where company marketing and advertising will be targeted.
Manufacturing
At the strategic level, manufacturing decisions define the manufacturing infrastructure and technology that is required. Based on high level forecasting and sales estimates, the company management has to make strategic decisions on how products will be manufactured. The decisions can require new manufacturing facilities to be built or to increase production at exiting facilities. However, if the overall company objectives include moving manufacturing overseas, then the decisions may lean towards using subcontracting and third party logistics. As environmental issues influence corporate policy to a greater extent, this may influence strategic supply chain decisions with regards to manufacturing.
Suppliers
Company management has to decide on the strategic supply chain policies with regards to suppliers. Reducing the purchasing spend for a company can directly relate to an increase in profit and strategically there are a number of decisions that can be made to obtain that result. Leveraging the total company’s purchases over many businesses can allow company management to select strategic global suppliers who offer the greatest discounts. But these decisions have to correspond with the overall company objectives. If a company has adopted policies on quality, then strategic decisions on suppliers will have to fall within the overall company objective.
Logistics
As well as strategic decisions on manufacturing locations, the logistics function is key to the success of the supply chain. Order fulfillment is an important part of the supply chain and company management need to make strategic decisions on the logistics network. The design and operation of the network has a significant influence on the performance of the supply chain. Strategic decisions are required on warehouses, distribution centers which transportation modes should be used. If the overall company objectives identify the use of more third party subcontracting, the company may strategically decide to use third party logistics companies in the supply chain.
Strategic decisions determine the overall direction of company’s supply chain. They should be made in conjunction with the companies overall objectives and not biased towards any particular product or regional location. These high level decisions can be refined, as required, to the specific needs of the company at the lower levels which allow for tactical and operational supply chain decisions to be made.
See more detail at http://astore.amazon.com/supply-chain-book-20
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