External forces can knock your business off balance with no warning. To meet these external challenges, you need the capability to extend supply chain visibility, respond to changes in real time, and improve performance measurement across the entire chain.
Infor SCM > Whitepaper Infor SCM
New dimensions
in supply chain
management:
Eight strategies for improving
performance from concept
to customerTable of contents
Executive summary .................................................................................................................................................... 3Concept-to-customer supply chain management ............................................................................................. 4Eight strategies for leveraging concept-to-customer supply chain management ................................... 7Concept-to-customer benefits ...............................................................................................................................11Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................................12
Infor SCM > Whitepaper Infor is in no way committing to the development or delivery of any specified enhancement, upgrade, product or functionality. See "disclaimer" paragraph contained herein.Executive summary
Striving to take their business to a new level, or just keep pace with increasing competition, many executives are realizing they need an expanded view of their company's business environment. There was a time when this meant looking deeper and harder into their own enterprise or slightly beyond to their immediate trading partners.
That's no longer good enough. Virtually every company-from manufacturer to logistics provider to retailer-is operating in a much more complex, multifaceted supply chain. This means their business is being impacted by a whole new set of factors from the far reaches of their supply chain.
The list of forces driving this change in supply chain dynamics is long, varied and, in most instances, not a surprise. It includes the usual suspects-globalization, a changing competitive landscape due to mergers and acquisitions, changing regulatory requirements, changing consumer expectations, and a high failure rate for new product introductions. There also are forces that are less top of mind, including shortening of product lifecycles, skyrocketing product variety, rising energy costs, increased congestion at ports and on roads, and the impact of real or potential natural disasters and terrorism.
InforT has analyzed those business forces and the impact they are having on manufacturers, logistics providers, and retailers and developed a new way for companies to view their supply chains. We call it the "concept-to-customer" approach to supply chain management.
In this whitepaper, we will describe concept-to-customer supply chain management in detail and the eight strategies customers can take to get a broader view of their supply chain for improved business performance.
Infor is in no way committing to the development or delivery of any specified enhancement, Infor SCM > Whitepaperupgrade, product or functionality. See "disclaimer" paragraph contained herein.Concept-to-customer supply
chain management
In its simplest terms, the concept-to-customer approach to supply chain management can be defined as taking the broadest possible view of the variables impacting a business. It's a tacit acknowledgement that today's typical supply chain is multifaceted and multidimensional and requires companies to see it that way. Based on our analysis of supply chain management trends, we believe companies are best served by viewing their supply chains in terms of three dimensions: internal, external, and customer.
Internal dimension-the supply chain you control A company's internal dimension encompasses the physical aspects of its business that are largely under its control. These include manufacturing, distribution, or retail capacity and the time and costs that go into sourcing, producing, and distributing products. Improving performance in those areas has, to date, been the priority of most supply chain management initiatives. For manufacturers, this has meant investing in automation and sales and operations planning technologies. For distributors and retailers, the priority has generally been on supplier relationship management, warehouse management, and transportation management solutions and the integration of those solutions to deliver visibility of supply.
Forward-thi... [download for more]
