Exploring the Supply Chain: Theory and Practice

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Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a revolutionary way of looking at the processes involved in buying. This book elaborates the basic concepts of Supply Chain Management and provides a comprehensive coverage of the methodology and key strategic drivers in the different processes involved in operating and designing a Supply Chain. The book explains the evolution of Supply Chain Management, its concept and philosophy. It also looks at the different elements that go into the design of the Supply Chain and the purchasing functions from the supply chain perspective. The book not only deals with the planning function of SCM, it also covers the fundamental concepts of forecasting and demand management, planning and control, including the aggregate plan, the different types of inventory models and their classification, work-in-progress and finished goods inventory and quality as a new and major component of Supply Chain Management. Information plays a critical part in properly designed supply chains. Therefore, a whole chapter is dedicated to discuss the functionality of information in supply chains. It describes the principles behind generating 'Supply Chain Information' as well as the different architectures of supply chain information apart from covering the fundamentals of e-Business. Different aspects and modes of transportation in India, containerization, impact of globalization on logistics, warehouse designs, materials handling systems and warehousing strategies are the other important topics that have been discussed in the book. The book not only begins with the bull-whip effect, it also ends with it. The last chapter discusses supply chain coordination problems and solutions to these problems. This book is not an academic treatise, though it provides the most comprehensive coverage of the different facets of supply chain management. An important feature of this book is that its text is supported by some outstanding case studies developed by the faculty of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.