Supply Chain Management For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 16

Improving Your Supply Chain Processes

IN THIS CHAPTER

Mapping your supply network

Driving process improvements

Managing supply chain projects

Depending on the product or service that you’re selling, you probably have many alternatives to choose among when designing your supply chain. You may have choices of how and where to buy your materials or make your products. Perhaps you can even choose different ways to deliver your products to your customers. In this chapter, I discuss the techniques to optimize your supply chain to ensure that you’re creating the most value, in the most sustainable way, for you and your customers. I also talk about how to implement improvements to your supply chain through cross-functional projects.

Designing Your Network

It’s often useful to think about your supply chain as a network. Networks are made up of nodes and links. As Figure 16-1 shows, every stop that a product makes between raw materials and a customer is a node of the network. A factory is a node; so are a warehouse, a distribution center, and a retail store. Nodes are connected by links. Generally speaking, links are forms of transportation, such as a ship, a railroad, a truck, ...