Supply Chain Management Journal 2013, Volume 4, Number 2

Collaborating demand in an industrial sector means moving downstream of the supply chain, coming closer to the customer or end user virtually, utilizing means to know the exact demand in real time and sharing the true demand as far as upstream of
the supply chain, so that optimized supply chain output can be achieved in an end to end enterprise. All stakeholders of the supply chain should get enhanced benefits in terms of cost decrease, time and quality improvements etc., resulting in a win-win for everyone.
In case of service industries though, it is tricky and complex to decode the high up aforementioned strategy, in particular when it comes to an education institution, like a business school, offering business administration degrees in the town. Who would be the customer or an end user? What would be the demand? Where lies the upstream of the supply chain of a business school? Who is going to formulate the upstream part of the supply chain? All of these are queries that are answered in this formal research paper.
The paper concludes that the interpretation of demand in a business school would be its education quality and total package skill set that a business school visions to inject in a student. Students would then become the direct customers of the business school. This is not as simple as it looks like. Here some of the stakeholders would add into the supply chain of a business school and would then determine the true demand of the service that is required. These stakeholders would be parents, industry employers and society in addition to students. All of the four stakeholders have to get the advantage from the knowledge, learning and a complete skill set infused to the students. Approaching closer to the aforesaid stakeholders and sharing the outcomes with the faculty and top management, can best balance the supply with demand in case of a business school.

supply chain management, demand collaboration, business school, skill set, true demand, quality of curriculum, service supply chain.

December 2013, pp 1 – 11

The economical efficiency of commercial companies located in dense metropolitan areas depends on many factors. Amongst these, transportation is one of the most unpredictable and time-consumer link of a supply chain. Many stakeholders depend on the effectiveness of the management in producing/obtaining freight, storing, supplying and/or delivering on-time all their products to the final user, or to their customers. The paper is focusing on the usability and the effects of employing real-time traffic and travel information systems (RTTIS) to help improve the efficiency in such management processes for supply chains. An analysis is made to estimate the impact in terms of time effectiveness, energy/fuel consumption reduction and a better fleet management. The study, based on an international research project, is offering solutions for a better integration of intelligent transport systems (ITS) in supply chain management. The authors believe that using RTTIS may improve the productivity associated with the transportation part of the supply chain. Operations such as: route guidance for supply vehicles, route / driver allocation, fuel management and vehicles maintenance can be shaped better to increase the productivity of a commercial company acting in dense urban environment, by beneficiating from a more efficient usage of traffic information.

real-time traffic and travel information systems, time efficiency, fuel consumption reduction, fleet management, maintenance scheduling

December 2013, pp 12 – 21

Risk management has a long history among the academics and practitioners and it is a currently debated topic in the area of supply chain management. The topic derives its importance due to several industry trends currently in place: market globalizations, increase use of outsourcing, short product lifecycle, unpredictable demand, uncertain supply and pressure for lean production.
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature of supply chain risk management, to include identification and risk analysis and design appropriate responses to the risks.
Through extensive literature review, in this paper we first defined Supply Chain Risk Management and focused on four areas of supply chain risks: business environment, products and service, suppliers and customers. Then we identified the main sources of uncertainty in the supply chain and risks resulting from these sources
This article also describe several models for managing supply chain risks and the choices for type of responses such as such as separation, transfer, weakening, avoidance and insurance.

supply chain, risk management, supply chain risk management, managing supply chain risks, risk analysis, risk response.

December 2013, pp 22 – 31

Health Care Supply Chain Drivers – the factors that are driving the call of efficiency in health care supply chain are based on common business sense realizing that considering the size of the industry, even small-scale efficiencies can have potentially
large dollar impact.
The Efficient Healthcare Consumer Response (EHCR) initiative is a broad-based, industry-wide effort aimed at streamlining the health care products supply chain by making each participant as efficient as possible and eliminating waste between supply
partners. The continuity of operations in healthcare supply chain is vital to human welfare and the span and quality-of-life of patients.
A typical healthcare supply chain is a complex network consisting of many different parties at various stage of the value chain. The three major types of players are: Producers (product manufacturers), Purchasers (group purchasing organizations, or Group Purchasing Organizations, and wholesalers/distributors), and health care providers (hospital systems and integrated delivery networks, or IDNs).
A supply chain disruption occurs when supply falls severely short of supply. Such disruptions take place when either the nominal supply capacity of a business process is greatly reduced for some period of time, or a sudden surge of demand manifests itself, or both. Disruptions in healthcare contexts upset the continuity of providing for patient needs, and can have particularly severe consequences.
The resilience of a supply chain entity is defined as the ability to be able to react to disturbances and return to its original state or a more desirable one. Future industry efforts to reduce costs must focus on the inefficient processes within health care provider operation. Efficiencies gained in the provider operation can be passed up the chain to improve information transfer, reduce inventory investment, and improve coordination of demand planning.
A new relationship model for distributors and their customers must be created. This model must support the lower prices required by large volume providers without subjecting distributors to undue financial pressure.
E-Commerce should have also taught us that technology without knowledge and validation is of little use in creating an efficient health care supply chain.
To ensure e-supply chain readiness and global GS1 standards integration, Healthcare supply chain partners are called on to immediately implement the following standards GTIN, GLN, EDI, Electronic Product Code(ePC).
In support of understanding how this supply chain can be improved come two examples from other regions, a specific case of a perturbation which appears in the supply chain as well as the final users opinion on it.

Supply Chain, Efficient Healthcare Consumer Response, disruption, resilience of a supply chain, new relationship model, and global standards integration.

December 2013, pp 32 – 46

Multimodal transport refers to a transport system usually operated by one carrier with more than one mode of transport under the control or ownership of one operator. Containers will ensure the transport of unitized cargo from its origin to its final destination, with efficiency and least possible risk.
Container tracking can deliver several benefits for supply chain management. The main demonstrable advantages that RFID tracking can provide are cost reductions and revenue increases, smaller inventory, fast transportation and routing troubleshooting, lower insurance rates, greater efficiency and heightened security.
RFID technology is used to tag, identify and track individual items, cases and pallets as they move from the manufacturing floor through the supply chain and into the hands of the buyer or consumer. As the objects move through the supply chain, wireless RFID readers can communicate with an RFID tag on the object, collect information about the object (such as a unique number) and match that number in a database to access a complete record about the object. This real-time technology provides unprecedented speed and accuracy in the supply chain. The technology can be used to identify a wide variety of objects. Radio frequency identification is used in many applications, including systematic campuses, airports by identifying objects, traffic management and vehicle access control in private areas, service management, the sorting conveyor, sorting on
the conveyor belt, sorting by Lift etc. Microchip technology and invention led to the design and use of passive RFID tags (tags that can be read without the need for energy sources), thereby reducing costs. In recent years identification systems are often used in the industrial machines, the transport equipment and supplies, personnel and security administration, as well as any other field where objects need to be identified.
Electronic product code (EPC) is a new standard which is well positioned to become the open standard for RFID technology and a key information tool in the retail supply chain. EPC-RFID has great potential to deliver bottom-line business benefits on a mass scale.

radio frequency identification (RFID), multimode transport using RFID, Electronic Product Code (EPC), RFID tags, wireless communication.

December 2013, pp 47 – 57

Today’s marketplace is characterized by turbulence and uncertainty. At the same time the vulnerability of supply chains to disturbance of disruption has increased. A more recent view is that customers initiate supply chain decisions, configuring products and initiating orders that pull products the chain. The supply chain originates with the customer, and decisions flow backward through the supply, even influencing the choice of supply chain members we assist a new concept from inside-out to outside-in.
The supply chain begins with the customer. It moves through five successive stages: distribution, final manufacturing/assembly, first tier suppliers, second tier suppliers to basic materials. In reality, the supply chain may be considerably longer. Decisions determine the choice of structure, partners, and processes. Product and material flow forward, towards the customer.
Choosing a supplier is a long, drawn-out process that involves verifying whether the supplier will mesh with the supply network. In some cases, suppliers are selected because they have innovations that improve processes or decrease costs (Kraljic, and Monczka model and other examples).
The nature of relationship between the organization and its suppliers is the reverse of the one the organization has with its own customers. Some of the generic strategies that commonly apply to supplier and al alliance partner relationship management are: improve supplier performance, optimize procurement costs, establish alliance or joint venture partnerships and accomplish desired outcome objectives.
‘’Faster, better, cheaper’’, these are the goals for all construction industry organizations and managers. At their disposal, they have a set of strategies in areas like business process re-engineering, information technology, and purchasing strategy.
The rationale for the re-engineering efforts was to significantly reduce cost and schedule while ensuring quality.

turbulence and uncertainty, vulnerability of supply chains, resilience an, supply chains, integrations of business processes, customers, suppliers, re-engineering

December 2013, pp 58 – 69