Question

B. The authors talk about supply chain features – depth and temporal. Discuss each of these terms.
Hint: Think about more than one dimension.
Introduction to Operations Management (OM 300)

Answer 1

Supply chain is one of the most important and back bone for any organization to maintain its flow of goods and services. It plays one of the most crucial role in the organization right from beginning in individual to end user. All kinds of operations within and outside organization managed by supply chain.

In simple terms we can define supply chain is a network that is connected with all the process in the organization right form manufacture to handling the end product to customer. One of the biggest and tough process where an organization present and future depends.

There are so many features in supply chain management. They are:

• Inventory Management: Contains information related to tracking and managing the required resources that are needed for the organization and at the same time the finished products and support and service also processed.
• Order Management: in order management right form order to delivery all the details are closely monitored and processed in this management. Tracking of order details and delivery status to customer communication all kinds of works taken care in the management.
• Logistics Management: The movement of products to distributors, suppliers and customers is taken care and the logistic management is responsible in handling the product package to its safe movement to the customers.
• Warehouse management: Manage the products in a safer and secure place to process the product supply and create demand and manage the stock.
• Forecasting and Planning: Is one of the most active management to manage the goods and services according to the demand and plan the process to move the products to customers and this management is responsible in managing the required sources to avoid storing excess products in the warehouse.

Each and every stage of the process is very crucial in moving the product or service. The record of every movement in the supply chain is monitored, stored and secured in such a way to handle the process of supply chain.

In order to complete a process of manufacture to supply a product in the market supply chain management plays active role.

Apart from all there are two another features they are:

• Depth in supply chain: As every business management supply chain is a that kind of service where timely supply of goods and services are more important. Because of that there are so many strategies and plans are made in such a way that goods delivery in an estimated time to end user. In that process there are so many risks that are associated in the process that need depth analysis is required. There are so many reasons for the risks like weather, transport, labour and economic etc.

Though there is a plan to process sometimes there are risks always expected in the supply chain. All of these issues are because of the depth as the supply chain growing globally the associated risks are also growing along with that. There is analysis are going on to overcome these issues in the supply chain for the better organizing supply chain.

• Temporal supply chain: Refers is basically deal with time and size. Because there are so many cases where the supply chain fail to perform because of the demand does not match with the supply. In such cases the temporal in introduced to supply the products and services on demand frequency. Based on the demand for the area the supply depends. It’s a temporal supply in those areas where demand of such products is less.