In our modern world of the 21st century, supply chains are the lifeblood of enterprises. We rely on the procurement, manufacture, and logistics for the supply of essential products & execution of services. Supply chains, given their breadths & complexities, are not easy to manage. We who work in them know that supply chains spanContinue reading “What is Your Supply Chain Doctrine?”
Tag Archives: logistics
How Realistic is a Supply Chain Vision?
Many entrepreneurs have invented all kinds of applications for a variety of uses. We have apps to help in our finances, make music, learn new languages, find places we’ve never visited, make reservations, book rides, and buy tickets. The one app we (still) don’t have is the one that makes & delivers products. I wouldn’tContinue reading “How Realistic is a Supply Chain Vision?”
Five Characteristics of Supply Chains
Supply chains had become popular in the 2020’s, thanks greatly to the era of the coronavirus pandemic when our world experienced major economic disruptions in transportation, production, and deliveries. Because of aggravations such as missed deliveries, shortages, and overstocked inventories, we pledged we’d do better in managing our supply chains. But we hadn’t done muchContinue reading “Five Characteristics of Supply Chains”
A Primer on the Process of Order Creation & Fulfilment
The process of customer order creation and fulfilment is a core task of many enterprises. An order creation & fulfilment process in a business-to-business (B2B) relationship typically consists of the following steps: Enterprises who sell directly to end-users, that is business-to-consumer (B2C, e.g., supermarkets, e-commerce, restaurants) typically have a simpler process: Enterprises who offer services,Continue reading “A Primer on the Process of Order Creation & Fulfilment”
We Need Engineers to Solve Supply Chain Problems, Not Managers
We encounter lots of problems with supply chains. But how serious are these problems? How do we as managers prioritise which problems we will put most of our time and resources into? When the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March 2020, governments immediately restricted the movements of people and merchandise. Continue reading “We Need Engineers to Solve Supply Chain Problems, Not Managers”
Value Chains, Supply Chains, & Our Wrong Mindsets
Michael Porter introduced the Value Chain model in his seminal book, Competitive Advantage,1 in 1985. The value chain broke down activities of the firm (the enterprise) and how they collectively contribute to the value of products & services. How well activities perform and interrelate would manifest in the margins, which are the difference between valueContinue reading “Value Chains, Supply Chains, & Our Wrong Mindsets”
Comparing Supply Chain Management versus Supply Chain Engineering
What’s the difference between supply chain management (SCM) and supply chain engineering (SCE)? Supply chain management is the management of people, structures, & systems that underlie the relationships of functions which enable the flow of merchandise & services from their sources to their destinations and users. SCMs work with existing systems & structures as theyContinue reading “Comparing Supply Chain Management versus Supply Chain Engineering”
Starting with the Symptoms
We encounter frequent symptoms with our supply chains. One reason is our supply chains are large in scope. Supply chains start from the source (e.g. mining of raw materials, harvest of agricultural crops), pass through a multitude of activities that supposedly add value (e.g., procurement, storage, manufacturing, handling, dispatch, transport), and end with our targetContinue reading “Starting with the Symptoms”
Managing Inventory
One common priority we have as supply chain managers is managing inventories. We make items available when needed but at the same time make sure we don’t have too much that ties up our enterprises’ money. Sometimes, inventory management takes so much of our time that it dominates our job more than anything else. InventoryContinue reading “Managing Inventory”
Managing Demand
Supply chains had been under a lot of pressure. Since year 2020, supply chain managers had to deal with shortages in merchandise and rising costs for reasons traced to the coronavirus pandemic, natural disasters, deteriorating trade relations between countries, and military conflicts. The need for supply chain engineering was mentioned repeatedly as a newContinue reading “Managing Demand”
Ellery's Essays 