According to the Council of Supply Chain Management
(CSCMP), “Supply Chain
Management encompasses the planning and management of all activities
involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all Logistics
Management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination
and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers,
intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers.
In essence, Supply Chain Management integrates supply and demand
management within and across companies. "
This accurate definition establishes the fact
that supply chain management plays an important role in the
life and success of a company. Whether it’s reducing costs
or increasing service rates, managing the supply chain builds
strong foundations on which to grow your business.
Supply Chain Management - Network Design Concerns
There are a number of concerns to address when
considering the supply chain. One must consider everything from
gathering product components, to delivering the product to customers
on time. This includes manufacturing, transportation, warehousing,
customer sites (stores) and greehouse gas emissions. This list is not exhaustive, but
after considering all of these aspects of your supply chain,
may be overwhelming if not too large of a task to be captured and modeled with spreadsheets.
Supply Chain Management of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Carbon Footprint and Greenhouse Gas Emissions modeling empowers companies to reduce their impact on the environment and improve their “green” credentials. It provides them with the ability to calculate their carbon emissions footprint, to determine where their emissions can be reduced, and to incorporate Carbon Offset purchases into their cost and footprint calculations.
One can manage the supply chain through simulation
or optimization. Simulating your current supply chain allows
you to have a birds-eye view of how your supply chain is running.
This helps to find weaknesses and strengths in the supply chain.
For more details or for a definition, see
Supply Chain Simulation.
Supply chain optimization is a mathematical approach
to analyzing the supply chain. The end result of an optimization
is an optimal solution; the ideal situation for your supply
chain. This solution could be representative of a least-cost
network or a maximum profit network. For more details or for
a definition, see Supply
Chain Optimization.
With all of these factors to consider,
and choosing between simulation and optimization techniques,
each with differing results, the task of supply chain management
can seem quite daunting. Fortunately, Supply Chain Guru can
help. Supply Chain Guru is a powerful software application that
allows you to model your entire supply chain. Consequently,
it is the only software application on the market today that
combines supply chain simulation and optimization in one program.
It eliminates the need to spend countless hours gathering data
and building models. Supply Chain Guru allows you to directly
import data from your supply chain directly into your model
that way most of your time is spent analyzing information. There
are many more features which you
can view in the software for yourself. Download
a free copy of Supply Chain Guru today and reap the savings
and efficiency that your company needs.
