March 7, 2008, Newsletter Issue #43: Evolution Of Supply Chain Software Technology

Tip of the Week

Managing and employing the human and material resources of a business enterprise is at the heart of supply chain performance management.  This term didn’t exist in the 1980s, when the term was just supply chain management (SCM).  However, it was needed to express the key functions of production where materials were acquired, processed, handled and moved.

As the discipline matured, SCM and the reporting associated with it spread to involve not only the manufacturer, but also every corporation and organization involved in the chain.   It wasn’t long before the industry realized that significant mutual gains could be realized by exchanging information regarding supply market factors, production plans, manufacturing capacities and anticipated problems.

Today, when the supply chain is integrated into an enterprise performance management framework, substantive information is available to every stakeholder in the supply chain.  The technology for querying, manipulating, and optimizing the entire process is in place and ready to serve managers and decision-makers collectively.  Incorporating a supply chain system, as embodied in supply chain reporting automation, ultimately leads to an improved competitive environment in the global marketplace where traditional organizational rivalry is replaced with cooperative achievement.

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