MGM102H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Supply Chain, Information System, Accounts Payable
Document Summary
Why has supply chain management gained sudden interest in industry and academia. Total time for materials to travel through the entire supply chain can be 6 months to a year or more. Supply chain management represents a great opportunity to reduce the total supply chain cycle time leading to a reduction in inventory, increased flexibility, reduced costs, and better deliveries. Many companies have improved their internal operations dramatically and now find it necessary to further supply chain management practices to gain further improvements in operations. Supply chain thinking provides a basis for understanding processes that cut across a company"s internal departments and ones that extend outside the company as well. The set of entities and relationships that cumulatively define materials and information flows both downstream towards the customer, and upstream towards the very first supplier. Materials and requisite information (usage instructions, inventory levels, invoices) flow downstream. Return units (items returned), requisite information (demand, forecasts, etc. ) and monetary payments flow upstream.
