Supply Chain Time-Based Strategies

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes and makes recommendations for those companies who are having their supply chains and logistics processes impacted by the ever-stricter security measures which are taking a heavy toll on their ability to respond from a manufacturing and services standpoint. Specifically, the paper looks at the synchronization of time-based strategies including the integration of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, the use of just-in-time (JIT) sourcing strategies, and the role of vendor managed inventory (VMI).

Introduction:
Alleviating Security Time lags with Synchronous Logistics
Supporting Business Cycles through Synchronized Supply Chains
Forecasting: The Critical Time-Based Supply Chain best Practice
VMI's role in Time-Based Supply Chain Strategies

From the Paper:

"When the first series of security measures went into place it was clear that there were many business cycles completely disconnected from and often running completely separately from their supply chains. The heightened security measures just exacerbated and made clear the need for a much higher level of synchronization, starting at the business cycle and emanating out to the specific supply chains and supply chain partners as well. As the time constraints began to become even more acute due to security measures slowing down shipments, there was a corresponding reduction in the sharing of information, which in turn leads to decision making also slowing down significantly. Figure 1 shows the impact of sequential decision making on supply chain and logistics response times, assuming a lack of synchronization across supply chain and logistics systems."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Aimi, G. (2005). AMR Research (2005, October 25). Retailers Save Money By Controlling In-Bound Logistics. (Alert). Boston, MA
• Ballou (1987) - Ballou, R.H., Basic Business Logistics. 1987. 2nd edition. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs.
• Coyle, Bardi and Langley (2003) - Coyle, JJ. Bardi, EJ. Langley, CJ. Jr. The Management of Business Logistics. 1996. 6th edition. West Publishing. Minneapolis.
• Bowersox, Closs, Cooper (2002) - Bowersox, DJ. Closs, DJ. Cooper, MB. Supply Chain Logistics Management. 2002. McGraw Hill Publishing. Singapore.
• Christopher (1998) - Christopher, M. Logistics and Supply Chain Management. 2nd edition. 1998. Financial Times.

More papers on Supply Chain Time-Based Strategies:

• Research Paper # 115182 : "Supply Chain Management"
• Dissertation or Thesis # 98537 : "Demand-Driven Supply Networks (DDSN)"
• Case Study # 133240 : "Hewlett Packard"

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