WHAT IS SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

A supply chain consist of anetwork of people who share information and undertake activities to make the goods/services move from supplier to customer. Why we say supplier to consumer and not manufacturer to consumer??? Because supply chain also includes those activities which are undertaken even before start of manufacturing . It starts from procurement of raw material  when a manufacturer asks for raw material from its supplier. A manufacturer than produces goods and delivers it to the consumers through middlemen. All these parties supplier, manufacturer,wholesaler,retailer form a supply chain. All activities done in these process like transportation,warehousing,  etc. include supply chain. Thus, we can simply say a supply chain includes all functions involved in receiving and filling a customer request.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT : supply chain management (SCM) is the management of the flow of goods and services and involves the movement and storage of raw materials, of work-in-process inventory, and of finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption.

“Supply Chain Management (SCM) refers to the coordination of production, inventory, location, and transportation among the participants in a supply chain to achieve the best mix of responsiveness and efficiency for the market being served” – from Essential of Supply Chain Management by Michael Hugos.

Main objective of supply chin management is to maximise customer satisfaction and minimise cost. For this, it is very important that supply chain partners work with coordination in all stages i.e. from  order generation, to order taking, to order fulfilment.

Information sharing in supply chain management is of utmost importance. information must be shared among the network members at every stage for smooth supply and decision making in the process.