From the course: Careers in Supply Chain and Operations
Supply chain management basics
From the course: Careers in Supply Chain and Operations
Supply chain management basics
- There are lots of different definitions for supply chains, but here's mine. A supply chain is a complex system made up of people, processes, and technologies that's engineered and managed to deliver value to a customer. Supply chains connect the functions in a company and they connect companies to their suppliers and customers. There are folks like Cranfield University professor, Martin Christopher, who argue that competition these days doesn't really occur between companies. Instead, it's one supply chain competing against another. You might hear terms like value chain, demand chain, or supply network, but these days, most of us just call it the supply chain. One of the easiest ways to explain it is to break up a supply chain into processes. For example, the SCOR Model is a process framework from the Association for Supply Chain Management. It breaks all of the activities that occur in a company's supply chain into six main processes. Plan, source, make, deliver, return, and enable. So basically every job that involves buying, selling, making, moving, storing, or delivering a product or service is actually part of the supply chain. And there are lots of jobs for people to help implement changes, develop new technologies, and drive improvements. Understanding how each job fits in and how it impacts the rest of the supply chain can help you leverage your current skills, set smart career goals, and prepare for new opportunities.
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