Verified Document

Supply Chain Integration Essay

Supply chain management (SCM) is a method for alleviating the way one company finds the raw materials and other components that it requires to produce a product or service and provide it to its customers. The five basic components of Supply Chain Management are planning, source, making, delivering and return. If supply chain standards are applied then the supply chain management could benefit from it a great deal and it could significantly improve things (Wailgum, 2008). Most organizations are now starting to realize the great importance of supply chain management and that it is vital in order to survive in the fast paced and competitive global economy. This association of business relationship goes beyond the usual enterprise parameters and instead focuses to organize the whole business process through a value chain of many different companies. So due to these factors, many large companies such as DELL and Hewlett Packard and joined forces to operate strong supply networks in which each partner invests its focus on only a few specific strategic activities. This form of collusion should be encouraged as it would allow most companies from different industries to take advantage of each other's strengths while not affecting the competitive aspects of the respective markets that each are working under.

In 1999, a study had been conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in which they claimed that the auto industry alone has the potential to save up to $1 billion in supply chain savings...

The institute also claimed that such immense savings are also possible in other industries as well such as shipbuilding and home construction (MSID Publications).
Normally, companies that are associated with supply chain management tend to focus more on the inputs and outputs of their production process, whereas not much attention is given to the internal management that is working with other companies, so therefore, the selection of an internal management control structure tends to affect the local performance of the firm more than anything.

Congress is even pondering upon the possibility of passing a legislation that would assist in the development of supply chain standards by using a funding of up to $47 million since this would allow many industries to cut back on their savings worth millions of dollars (Thibodeau, 2002). The process for the approval for that legislation is under way and there seems to be no opposition against the legislation and it is only a matter of time till it will be approved and implemented.

However, according to NIST, there are many inefficiencies that are present due to the absence of effective standardization as the purpose of the standards is to ensure that the interactions between one group and the other is fast paced so that it minimizes delays by speeding up dealings. For example, if a large electronic or automobile manufacturer changes the designs for one of its products, it allows the suppliers…

Sources used in this document:
References

Analysis of Standards for Lifecycle Management of Systems for U.S. Army. (n.d.). MSID Publications. Retrieved August 15, 2012, from www.mel.nist.gov/msidlibrary/doc/NISTIR_7339.pdf

Thibodeau, P. (n.d.). Supply Chain Standards Up for Federal Funding - Computerworld. Computerworld - IT news, features, blogs, tech reviews, career advice. Retrieved August 14, 2012, from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/75092/Supply_Chain_Standards_Up_for_Fede

Wailgum, T., & Worthen, B. (n.d.). Supply Chain Management Definition and Solutions CIO.com. CIO.com. Retrieved August 14, 2012, from http://www.cio.com/article/40940/Supply_Chain_Management_Definition_
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Supply Chain Integration at Albertson's
Words: 1281 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Recommendations at the Divisional Level Divisional warehouses, or as they are sometimes called, Distribution Centers (DC) act as the fulfillment centers for stores in their region and also receive and inspect products from suppliers. DCs also manage the critical tasks of breaking down large shipments and allocating specific levels of inventory to each store. From a supply chain integration perspective, this is the most critical link in the entire chain between

Supply Chain Integration and Firm Performance
Words: 490 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Afshan, Nikhat. "The performance outcomes of dimensions of supply chain integration conceptual framework." Business: Theory and practice 14.4 (2013): 323. Academic Search Premier. ProQuest Web 6 Mar 2016. This study provides a systematic literature review regarding the link between Supply Chain Integration (SCI) and firm performance and how this relationship shows inconsistency in the results. The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between SCI and firm performance based on

Why Government Supply Chain Integration Standards Are Good
Words: 742 Length: 3 Document Type: Case Study

Supply Chain Integration How Defining Supply Chain Standards Can Improve Integration and Performance Supply chains by their very nature of often disorganized, lack a cohesive data model or taxonomy for sharing information and knowledge and over time can become exceptionally myopic and inward centered. When these conditions exist in conjunction with dominant firms who seek to create their own unique, proprietary supply chain integration standards, the fragmentation or balkanization of an entire

Analyzing Supply Chain Integration
Words: 3575 Length: 10 Document Type: Essay

Supply chain integration (SCI) has been characterized as; endeavoring to hoist the linkages inside of every segment of the chain, to encourage better choice making and to get every one of the bits of the chain to cooperate in a more proficient manner (and along these lines), making supply chain perceivable and recognize bottlenecks. As of late, a more all-encompassing meaning of SCI was expressed as the extent to which

How Supply Chain Integration Can Benefit Organizations of All Sizes...
Words: 1838 Length: 8 Document Type: Essay

Supply chain integration has become the focus of a growing body of research in recent years, a trend that can help fill the gaps in the body of knowledge about what critical success factors characterize fully integrated supply chains and how organizations can leverage this process to achieve and sustain a competitive advantage. It is important to note, though, that there is no universally accepted definition of supply chain integration

Benchmark for Supply Chain Integration
Words: 1310 Length: 4 Document Type: Research Paper

Benchmark-Supply Chain IntegrationThe process involving all the parties involved and integrated into a single system is referred to as supply chain integration. To achieve this state, significant alignment and coordination are required to ensure that everyone is working towards a common goal at all times. When the parts of a product that are required show up when needed, their time management is the resultant effect. This is because delays are

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now