Supply Chain Management

(1) DESIGNING AND MANAGING THE SUPPLY CHAIN By DAVID SIMCHI-LEVI ET AL

(2) E-SUPPLY CHAIN By CHARLES C. POIRIER ET AL

The two books have a fundamental difference in their approach to supply chain management. Essentially, Simchi-Levi describes what in place now, that is the current utilization of concepts that may be considered "historic" in their usage. On the other hand, Poirier, leads us into the Internet world of e-commerce, explains what will be the future (or at least what should be) for an effective supply chain system. While Simchi-Levi, still dealing with what is "now", tends to consider the importance of inventory control above all else, while Poirier discusses that as simply one among many supply chain factors. There are both wide as well as subtle differences in the approach to supply management, but both books agree that supply chain management has now become essential for business growth and profitability. Simchi-Levi, in effect, takes more time defining supply chain fundamentals, elaborating on the intricacies of conflicting objectives and dynamics that can stymie even the cleverest and best-intentioned efforts to implement modern and systematic supply chain management. On the other hand, Poirier starts with the indispensability of the supply chain as a given and seeks to demonstrate the necessity of building upon that to develop a truly systemat

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The fact is not so nmuch that industry leaders altered theirt focus, but that more and more global competition forced them into re-=thinking how their supply-chain commitments could serve their bottom line better, The "coveted market advantage" Poirier refers to (p. 19) is not merely technology, but the means of transforming that technology into meaningful and profitable relationships that last. Inventory management Simchi-Levi discusses inventory management in terms of coordinated inventory decisions. He notes that a supply chain typically consists of suppliers and manufacturers who convert raw materials into finished products, and distribution centers and warehouses, that ship (distribute) finished products to customers. Thus, inventory can appear in the supply chain as raw material, work in process and finished products, and each requires its own inventory control mechanism. The difficulty in designing these mechanisms stems from taking trying to gauge the interactions of the various supply chain levels. Supplier costs, product quality, delivery times and changing customer demand must all somehow be measured with the greatest possible accuracy. As earlier, the benefits versus the downside of one warehouse versus several
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Approximate Word count = 2280
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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