Integrating the Supply Chain

The Scope of the Supply Chain The role of manufacturing industry is to create wealth by adding value and selling products. Common to all manufacturing companies is the need to control the flow of material from suppliers, through the value adding processes and distribution channels, to customers. The supply chain, as shown in Figure 1, is the connected series of activities which is concerned with planning, coordinating and controlling material, parts and finished goods from suppliers to the customer. It is concerned with two distinct flows through the organisation: material and information. The scope of the supply chain begins with the source of supply and ends at the point of consumption. It extends much further than simply a concern with the physical movement of material and is just as much concerned with supplier management, purchasing, materials management, manufacturing management, facilities planning, customer service and information flow as with transport and physical distribution.