Demystifying supply chain management

By Dr. (Eng.) Sanath Divakara

Supply chain management has been in vogue for many decades and has raised the interest of both academics and practitioners. The concept is more popular within international business and yet it is important to demystify it further for adapting to current practices.

As we know theories are updating fast amid the technological revolution. The current practices in many disciplines of industry undergo integration, such as, human resources, marketing, quality management, project management and operation management. The Industrial Revolution has made a tremendous contribution to the integration of many concepts, including supply chain management.

An essential part of every business model is the supply chain and its management. All the components of this chain should be thoroughly controlled. It will bring about a cost decrease and a profitability increase. Therefore, this discussion would enable our readers to understand the concept of supply chain management which is evolving through industry practices. .

Supply chain concept relies on movement of materials from supplier to customer and finance and information in the opposite direction. Evolution of supply chain management has been characterized by increasing integration of each task, a trend underlined in the 1960s. History signifies a consolidation in 1980 in identifying two areas of material management and physical distribution. The process continued toward 1990 as globalization incited functional integration and the emergence of logistics into the field.

All the functional elements that were under material management and physical distribution became part of logistics. However, there was no significant discussion on information and communication technologies. In the 2000s technology became the factor used everywhere in the world for exponential development and information and communication technology played a vital role. Industry rivalry influenced to change many concepts under the concept of modern management. Value addition, information, and financial flows were the main concepts that were under the critical discussion and completed the integration with the emergence of supply chain management.

It allows for the integrated management and control of information finance, goods and services flows, making possible a new range of production and distribution systems.  Supply chain management has become a complex sequence of activities aiming at value capture and competitiveness. Supply chain is integrated logistics that connects operations and services to convert raw materials and components into finished goods and then deliver those goods to the end customers.

Supply chain management is the planning and control of a business’s flow of goods, services and information. It aims to minimize the cost and meet the needs of customers with increased efficiency. Supply chain management oversees all the processes involved in getting a product or service to customers, including procurement, logistics, warehouse, inventory control and distribution. Supply chain management is an art and science of ensuring products or services reach the right place, at the right time, right price and in the right condition. It is the intricate web of process, people, technology, and resources that make the entire journey possible, from raw materials to the hands of the end customer.

It is obvious that supply chain management is a concept that describes more than does logistics. Logistics is part of the supply chain and defined by Lambert, Stock & Ellram as the process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient effective flow and storage of goods, services and related information from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements. Logistic systems are often described as a network of nodes and links describing an interconnected web. Logistics itself includes transportation, hence no additional requirements are needed to specify logistics and transportation. Similarly, there are misnomers used in the process of supply chain management as supply chain and procurement, supply chain and logistics etc.