Contrary to appearances that logistics and supply chain management are byproducts of the industrial era, the earliest recorded reference dates back to the 1830’s. In his book The Art of War, Napoleon Bonaparte staff officer Baron Antoine-Henri Jomini defines logistics by its value to the French military. (Rogers, 2004) Named after the French military title major général des logìs, De Jomini defines logistics responsibilities for establishing camps, supply lines, leading marches and strategic troop locations. (De Jomini, 1862, 1971) While De Jomini’s concept of logistics remains a vital to successful military strategy to this day, it wasn’t until the mid-20th century that logistics began to find true application in the academic and business worlds. In the early 1960’s, Michigan State University became the first academic institution to offer coursework in physical distribution and logistics while other academic institutions began to recognize transportation as a major. (Ballou, 2007) In 1964, the lines of separation began to blur as the idea of managing logistics to manage business activity began to take hold in industry although business, as well as academia, still considered purchasing and physical distribution as managed in parallel with logistics with little to no coordination. (Ballou, 2007) Such activities gave rise to the National Council of Physical Distribution Management (NCPDM) in 1963, now called the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) (Southern, 2011) but the delineation between management of physical distribution and physical supply would prove to be an economically unsustainable model. In 1973, estimates of logistics costs responsible for 15 percent of the gross national product of the Uni... ... middle of paper ... ...n and materials management (2d ed.). New York: Ronald Press Co., 14-21 Lummus, R., & Vokurka, R. (1999). Defining supply chain management: a historical perspective and practical guidelines. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 99/1, 11-17 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). (n.d.). Office of the United States Trade Representative. Rogers, D., & Leuschner, R. (2004). Supply chain management: Retrospective and prospective. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 12(4), 60-65 Southern, R. N. (2011). Historical perspective of the logistics and supply chain management discipline. Transportation Journal, 50.1, 53+ The origin of the Toyota Production System. (n.d.). TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION GLOBAL WEBSITE. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://www.toyota-global.com/company/vision_philosophy/toyota_production_system/origin_of_the_toyota_production_system.html
. Matthew D. Cox, “Virtual Library Logistics: Logistics Quotations,” “Logistics World”, September 4, 1999. Accessed February 21, 2014), http://www.logisticsworld.com/logistics/ quotations.htm.
. Matthew D. Cox, “Virtual Library Logistics: Logistics Quotations,” “Logistics World,” September 4, 1999. Accessed February 21, 2014), http://www.logisticsworld.com/logistics/ quotations.htm.
In the 1960s through the 1970s, companies realized strong engineering, design, and manufacturing functions were strong market strategy keys to create and capture customer loyalty. As the demand for new products rose in the 1980s, these market requirements were to increase their flexibility and responsiveness to adapt existing products and processes or to develop new ones in order to meet customer needs. As manufacturing improved in the 1990s, managers began noticing material and service inputs involving suppliers and their major impact on an organization’s ability to meet customer needs. As a result of these changes, organizations now find that it difficult to manage their own organizations. First, they must be involved in the management of their network of all upstream firms that provide directly or indirectly, as well as the network of downstream firms, which are responsible for delivery and market service of the product to the end customer. In order to succeed, managers have to realize that they cannot do it alone and they must work together on a daily basis with the whole organizations in their supply chains. Because supply chain management involves all functions within an organization, managers need to know what a supply chain is, why it is important, and the impact of supply chain management on the success and profitability of their organization. Today, Wal-Mart topped the list of the America’s biggest companies on the Fortune 500 list, “with sales of almost $345 billion — more than a quarter of a trillion dollars” (Forbs). Wal-Mart’s supply chain management is becoming recognized as a core competitive strategy.
Traditionally, marketing, distribution, planning, manufacturing, and the purchasing organizations along the supply chain operated independently. The objectives of these organizational divisions are always different and conflict with each other’s objectives. . Marketing puts a higher emphasis on high customer service and maximum sales dollars conflict with manufacturing and distribution goals. Many manufacturing operations are designed to maximize throughput and lower costs with little consideration for the impact on inventory levels and distribution capabilities. Purchasing contracts are often negotiated with very little information beyond historical buying patterns. The result of these factors is that there is not a single, integrated plan for the organization---there were as many plans as businesses. Clearly, there is a need for a mechanism through which these different functions can be integrated together. Supply chain management is a strategy through which such an integration can be achieved.
Before we start, we would like to briefly introduce the definitions of Supply Chain and Supply Chain Management (SCM).
Supply chain management is basically refers to the fundamental supply chain analysis of the organization which predominantly describes functionalities from source to the delivery point. In this process of delivery, supply chain management framework divides in four categories: In Planning the products and suppliers evaluated and selected, Sourcing pull the information process including contracting, ordering and expediting, Moving is a physical process from suppliers to end user and Paying is the financial process including payment and performance measurement.
‘Supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. It 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, thir- party service providers, and customers’. (Web: Council for Supply Chain Management Pr...
Supply chain management has been defined as that process that involves the management of information, materials, and all the finances that are handled within and across the entire supply chain process (Christopher, 2016). The management is usually done through out the entire supply chain management from that moment when the suppliers are involved through all the manufacturing activities, different distribution activities, and the way that the products are served to the final product consumer (Turban, et al., 2002). The process also includes all the activities that different organizations offers to their customers as after sale services for purposes perfecting their services and products towards their highly valued customers (Christopher,
Logistics management is comprised of materials management, channel management, physical distribution, and supply chain management. It also includes the warehouse management system which takes control of stocks, and streamlines the movement of goods in the storage units.
Logistics is a concept used to define issues and arrangements related to transportation of products from the supplier to the buyer across international borders (Trepins S50). Current global trends have seen an upsurge of freight traffic as companies seek raw materials from middle to low income countries. On the other hand, many companies are seeking to diversify their target markets making it possible to send thei...
The key performance drivers of Supply Chain Management (SCM) are - facility effectiveness, inventory effectiveness, transportation effectiveness, information effectiveness, sourcing effectiveness, pricing effectiveness, delivery effectiveness, quality effectiveness and service effectiveness. These drivers include various performance markers that may be measured quantitatively by gathering information and applying them in SPSS. The works here may principally be quantitative with spellbinding measurable investigation. In the current world, practical supply chain management to help the triple primary concern, (nature, domain, and economy) is likewise included in the extent of supply chain performance drivers. This is relatively a quite new research region.
Zanjirani F., Rezapour, S. & Kardar, L. (2011) Logistics operations and management concepts and models, 1st ed. London ; Elsevier.
As an Industrial Engineer with more than 15 years of work experience, I choose Supply Chain Management (SCM) because I believe that logistics is the most dynamic, vibrant, challenging, technology driven area, and the future of any big national and international companies. It will give me the opportunity to know behind the scene of improving the companies’ performance by using SCM tools. If I work in this field, I can get my answers and a chance to work in the market of raw material, purchasing, production, distribution, logistics, and final goods. After finishing two semesters in the College of Business at University of Houston Downtown (UHD), I am really passionate about it and want to gain my knowledge in the logistics sector, learn new techniques and skills, and seek new opportunities.
Coyle, J., Langley, C., Gibson, B., Novack, R. and Bardi, E. (2008).Supply Chain Management: A Logistics Perspective. 8th ed. Cengage Learning, p.366.
My second interest in Supply Chain Management arose from my assessment that it is a ‘rational’ specialty. I understood that its simplistic applications could find solutions for essential needs of humanity. I realized that Mechanical Engineering has an enormous reach from automobiles and manufacturing to medical equipment and nanotechnology. I studied an extremely stimulating curriculum diligently focusing on Basic Mechanical Engineering and Operations research which gave me a holistic overview of the engineering field. Hence, my penchant for the range and extent of science with Mechanical engineering as the cynosure grew.