"Getting there means ditching today's monolithic model in favor of splintered supply chains that dismantle complexity, and using manufacturing networks to hedge uncertainty."
The future has supply chains with global complexity and new business models. We need to firstly change the old supply chain models by "splintering" into smaller nimbler one and secondly by re-configuring their manufacturing foot prints to bear a range of potential outcomes.
Efficient exchange of information can provide a company with higher service levels, lower inventory and a lower supply chain cost. Unlike the start of the last decade where the demand for a particular product was defined by the wholesale distributers, the manufacturers have direct access to assess the demand for a particular product in the market. SCM is concerned with the downward flow of product in the supply chain and an upward flow of information. Efficient exchange of information is very necessary for a company’s operations. IT infrastructure capabilities provide a competitive positioning of business initiatives like cycle time reduction, implementation, implementing redesigned cross-functional processes. Several well know firms are involved in supply chain relationship through information technology. There are several factors that have strongly impacted this change in the importance of information. First, serving the customer in the best, most efficient and effective manner has become critical. Second information is a crucial factor in the managers' abilities to reduce inventory and human resource requirement to a competitive level.
