Supply Chains: A Manager's Guide

Book description

“An excellent summary of the state of supply chain management going into the twenty-first century. Explains the essential concepts clearly and offers practical, down-to-earth advice for making supply chains more efficient and adaptive. Truly a survival guide for executives as they struggle to cope with the increasing competition between supply chains.”

     —Christian Knoll, Vice President of Global Supply Chain Management, SAP AG

“Through real-world case studies and graphic illustrations, David Taylor clearly demonstrates the bottom-line benefits of managing the supply chain effectively. Although the book is written for managers, I recommend it for everyone from the executive suite to the shipping floor because they all have to work together to master the supply chain. But beware—you can expect many passionate employees demanding improvements in your company’s supply chain after reading this book!”

     —David Myers, President, WinfoSoft Inc., Former Board Member of Supply Chain Council

“A comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and well-designed book that gives managers the information they need in a highly readable form. I am already starting to use the techniques in this book to improve our international distribution system.”

     —Jim Muller, Vice President of Produce Sales, SoFresh Produce

“Supply chain management is a deceptively deep subject. Simple business practices combine to form complex systems that seem to defy rational analysis: Companies that form trading partnerships continue to compete despite their best efforts to cooperate; small variations in consumer buying create devastating swings in upstream demand, and so on. In his trademark fashion, Taylor clearly reveals the hidden logic at work in your supply chain and gives you the practical tools you need to make better management decisions. A must-read for every manager who affects a supply chain, and in today's marketplace there are few managers who are exempt from this requirement.”

     —Adrian J. Bowles, Ph.D., President, CoSource.net

“David Taylor has done it again. With his new book, David makes supply chain management easy to grasp for the working manager, just as he did with his earlier guides to business technology. If you work for a company that is part of a supply chain, you need this book.”

     —Dirk Riehle, Ph.D.

“David Taylor has done a masterful job of defining the core issues in supply chain management without getting trapped in the quicksand of jargon. This concise book is well written, highly informative, and easy to read.”

     —Marcia Robinson, President, E-Business Strategies, author of Services Blueprint: Roadmap

“Taylor has done a tremendous job of giving readers an intuitive grasp of a complicated subject. If you’re new to supply chains, this book will give you an invaluable map of the territory. If you're already among the initiated, it will crystallize your insights and help you make better decisions. In either case, you can only come out ahead by reading this book.”

     —Kevin Dick, Founder of Kevin Dick Associates, author of XML: A Manager’s Guide

“My motto for compressing data is ‘squeeze it til it gags.’ In the current business climate, that’s what you have to do to costs, and Taylor shows you many ways to squeeze costs out of your supply chain. He also writes with the same economy: This book contains exactly what you need to manage your supply chain effectively. Nothing is missing, and nothing is extra.”

     —Charles Ashbacher, President, Charles Ashbacher Technologies

Today's fiercest business battles are taking place between competitors' supply chains, with victory dependent on finding a way to deliver products to customers more quickly and efficiently than the competition. For proof, just look to Dell and Amazon.com, both of which revolutionized their industries by changing how companies produce, distribute, and sell physical goods. But they're hardly alone. By revamping their supply chains, Siemens CT improved lead time from six months to two weeks, Gillette slashed $400 million of inventory, and Chrysler saved $1.7 billion a year.

It's a high-stakes game, and you don't have a lot of choice about playing: If your company touches a physical product, it's part of a supply chain--and your success ultimately hangs on the weakest link in that chain. In Supply Chains: A Manager's Guide, best-selling author David Taylor explains how to assemble a killer supply chain using the knowledge, technology, and tools employed in supply-chain success stories. Using his signature fast-track summaries and informative graphics, Taylor offers a clear roadmap to understanding and solving the complex problems of supply-chain management.

Modern manufacturing has driven down the time and cost of the production process, leaving supply chains as the final frontier for cost reduction and competitive advantage. Supply Chains: A Manager's Guide will quickly give managers the foundation they need to contribute effectively to their company's supply-chain success.



Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. Praise for Supply Chains: A Manager's Guide
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. Introduction
  5. About the Cover
  6. Challenges
    1. The New Competition
      1. The Thrill of Victory
      2. The Agony of Defeat
      3. A High Stakes Game
      4. The New Competition
    2. The Rules of the Game
      1. Facilities and Links
      2. Demand, Supply, and Cash
      3. Distribution and Procurement
      4. Complexity and Variability
    3. Winning as a Team
      1. JIT Supply Programs
      2. Retail Replenishment Programs
      3. The Problem with Programs
      4. Insights from Game Theory
      5. Winning Through Collaboration
  7. Solutions
    1. Supply Chains as Systems
      1. Business Cybernetics
      2. A Rogues Gallery of Relations
      3. The Dynamics of Delay
      4. Feedback and Stability
    2. Modeling the Supply Chain
      1. The Case for Models
      2. Conceptual Models
      3. Mathematical Models
      4. Simulation Models
      5. Combining Models
    3. Supply Chain Software
      1. The Manufacturing Platform
      2. Advanced Planning Systems
      3. Supply Chain Applications
      4. Implicit Business Models
      5. Internet-Based Systems
  8. Operations
    1. Meeting Demand
      1. Communicating Demand
      2. Processing an Order
      3. Assembling the Goods
      4. Shipping the Order
      5. Collecting the Cash
      6. Accelerating Fulfillment
    2. Maintaining Supply
      1. Triggering Replenishment
      2. Determining Order Quantity
      3. Maintaining Safety Stock
      4. Streamlining Replenishment
    3. Measuring Performance
      1. Measuring Time
      2. Measuring Cost
      3. Measuring Efficiency
      4. Measuring Effectiveness
  9. Planning
    1. Forecasting Demand
      1. Projecting Trends
      2. Aggregating Demand
      3. Analyzing the Future
      4. Integrating Forecasts
    2. Scheduling Supply
      1. Planning with ERP
      2. Optimizing with APS
      3. Validating with Simulators
      4. Integrating Schedules
    3. Improving Performance
      1. Setting Objectives
      2. Avoiding Conflicts
      3. Aligning Incentives
      4. Improving Planning
  10. Design
    1. Mastering Demand
      1. Knowing the Customer
      2. Analyzing the Product
      3. Shaping Demand
      4. Stabilizing Demand
    2. Designing the Chain
      1. Choosing a Strategy
      2. Exploring Your Options
      3. Designing the Chain
    3. Maximizing Performance
      1. Increasing Velocity
      2. Pooling Risk
      3. Designing for Supply
      4. Postponing Differentiation
    4. Notes on Sources
      1. Chapter 1 The New Competition
      2. Chapter 2 The Rules of the Game
      3. Chapter 3 Winning as a Team
      4. Chapter 6 Supply Chain Software
      5. Chapter 7 Meeting Demand
      6. Chapter 8 Maintaining Supply
      7. Chapter 9 Measuring Performance
      8. Chapter 10 Forecasting Demand
      9. Chapter 12 Improving Performance
      10. Chapter 13 Mastering Demand
      11. Chapter 14 Designing the Chain
      12. Chapter 15 Maximizing Performance
    5. Suggested Readings
      1. Intermediate Level
      2. Advanced Level
      3. Collections of Articles
  11. Glossary

Product information

  • Title: Supply Chains: A Manager's Guide
  • Author(s): Ph.D. David A. Taylor
  • Release date: September 2003
  • Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
  • ISBN: 9780201844634