A SUPPLY CHAIN is a network of supplier, manufacturing, assembly, distribution, and logistics facilities that perform the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these products to customers. Supply chains arise in both manufacturing and service organizations. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT  (SCM) is a systems approach to managing the entire flow of information, materials, and services from raw materials suppliers
through factories and warehouses to the end customer. SCM is different from SUPPLY MANAGEMENT which emphasizes only the buyer-supplier relationship.

Supply chain management has emerged as the new key to productivity and competitiveness of manufacturing and service enterprises. The importance of this area is shown by a significant spurt in research in the last five years and also proliferation of supply chain solutions and supply chain companies (e.g. i2, Manugistics, etc.). All major ERP companies are now offering supply chain solutions as a major extended feature of their ERP packages.

Supply chain management is a major application area for Internet Technologies and Electronic Commerce (ITEC). In fact, advances in ITEC have contributed to growing importance of supply chain management and SCM in turn has contributed to many advances in ITEC.
 

1.2. Two Faces of Supply Chain Management

SCM has two major faces to it. The first can be called loosely as the back-end and comprises the physical building blocks such as the
supply facilities, production facilities, warehouses, distributors, retailers, and logistics facilities. The back-end essentially involves
production, assembly, and physical movement. Major decisions here include:

   1. Procurement (supplier selection, optimal procurement policies, etc.)

   2. Manufacturing (plant location, product line selection, capacity planning, production scheduling, etc.)

   3. Distribution (warehouse location, customer allocation, demand forecasting, inventory management, etc.)

   4. Logistics (selection of logistics mode, selection of ports, direct delivery, vehicle scheduling, etc.)

   5. Global Decisions (product and process selection, planning under uncertainty, real-time monitoring and control, integrated scheduling)

Stochastic models (Markov chains, queueing networks), optimization models (LP, ILP, MILP, heuristics), and simulation provide the basis for the above decisions.

The second face (which can be called the front-end) is where IT and ITEC play a key role. This face involves processing and use of information to facilitate and optimize the back-end operations. Key technologies here include: EDI (for exchange for information across different players in the supply chain); Electronic payment protocols; Internet auctions (for selecting suppliers, distributors, demand forecasting, etc.); Electronic Business Process Optimization; E-logistics; Continuous tracking of customer orders through the Internet; Internet-based shared services manufacturing; etc.
 
 

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE

To introduce the major building blocks, major functions, major business processes, performance metrics, and major decisions
(strategic, tactical, and operational) in supply chain networks

To provide an insight into the role of Internet Technologies and Electronic Commerce in supply chain operations and to discuss
technical aspects of key ITEC components in supply chain management.

To bring out the role of stochastic models (Markov chains, queueing networks); optimization models (LP, ILP, MILP, GA, Constraint Programming); and simulation in supply chain planning and decision-making. This will provide the foundation for design and analysis of supply chains.
 
 

3. STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE

 

Part 1: Building Blocks, Performance Measures, Decisions

 Topics

Building Blocks of a Supply Chain Networt
Performance Measures
Decisions in the Supply Chain World
Models for Supply Chain Decision-Making

Lecture Notes
Problem Set: 1
Chapter 2: N. Viswanadham. Analysis of Manufacturing Enterprises. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Chapter 7: N. Viswanadham. Analysis of Manufacturing Enterprises. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Y. Narahari and S. Biswas. Supply Chain Management: Models and Decision Making
Ram Ganeshan and Terry P. Harrison. An Introduction to Supply Chain Management
D. Connors, D. An, S. Buckley, G. Feigin, R. Jayaraman, A. Levas, N. Nayak, R. Petrakian, R. Srinivasan. Dynamic modelling for business process reengineering. IBM Research Report 19944, 1995

Economic Order Quantity Models
Reorder Point Models
Multiechelon Inventory Systems

Lecture Notes
Chapter 3: W.J. Hopp and M.L. Spearman. Factory Physics: Foundations of Manufacturing Management
Chapter 17: W.J. Hopp and M.L. Spearman. Factory Physics: Foundations of Manufacturing Management

Use of Stochastic Models and Combinatorial Optimization in:

Supply Chain Planning
Supply Chain Facilities Layout
Capacity Planning
Inventory Optimization
Dynamic Routing and Scheduling

Understanding the "internals" of industry best practice solutions

Lecture Notes

Digital Equipment Case Study
IBM Case Study

Lecture Notes

Relation to ERP
E-procurement
E-Logistics
Internet Auctions
E-markets
Electronic business process optimization
Business objects in SCM

Lecture Notes

Syllabus  Course Organization & Overview  Course Schedule   Books and References

Problems  Term Papers  Mini Projects  Useful Web Resources