Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 4th Edition

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In conventional supply chains each stage in the chain tends to be disconnected

from the others. Even within the same company the tendency is for separate func-

tions to seek to optimise their own performance. As a result the interfaces between

organisations and between functions within those organisations need to be buff-

ered with inventory and/or time lags. The effect of this is that end-to-end pipeline

times are long, responsiveness is low and total costs are high.

To overcome these problems it is clear that the supply chain needs to act as

a synchronised network – not as a series of separate islands. Synchronisation

implies that each stage in the chain is connected to the other and that they all

‘march to the same drumbeat’. The way in which entities in a supply chain become

connected is through shared information.

The information to be shared between supply chain partners includes demand

data and forecasts, production schedules, new product launch details and bill of

material changes.

To enable this degree of visibility and transparency, synchronisation requires a

high level of process alignment, which itself demands a higher level of collabora-

tive working. These are issues to which we shall return. The box below indicates

some of the key processes that need to be linked, upstream and downstream, to

provide the foundation for supply chain synchronisation.

The synchronous

supply chain

7

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The extended enterprise and the virtual supply chain

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The role of information in the virtual supply chain

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Laying the foundations for synchronisation

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‘Quick response’ logistics

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Production strategies for quick response

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Logistics systems dynamics