Using Web Technologies for Supply Chain Management [chapter]

Marincas Delia, Voicila Cristi
2011 Supply Chain Management - Pathways for Research and Practice  
Web based supply chain. Literature review A Supply Chain is a network of suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, distributors and retailers who, through coordinated plans and activities, develop products by converting raw materials to finished goods. Supply Chain Management (SCM) involves various approaches www.intechopen.com Supply Chain Management -Pathways for Research and Practice 220 used to integrate suppliers, manufacturers and distributors in performing their functions: materials
more » ... nt, materials transformation in intermediate and finished products, the distribution of these products to distribution centers and from here to point of sales and to the final customer. The management of Supply Chain assumes to provide the appropriate strategy to deliver products and services to customers in the right quantities, to the right locations and at the right time to meet the required service level with minimal cost. Through collaboration, information sharing and usage of internal information systems and Internet technologies, companies can create efficient value systems, and get competitive advantage. The Internet has brought new opportunities for the Supply Chain field. Companies have to adapt their Supply Chain to the Internet and to connect through Web technologies with their business partners to create Supply Chain networks. The combination of SCM (Supply Chain Management) concepts and the Internet tools resulted in a Web based application called e-SCM. E-SCM model uses Supply Chain competencies and resources and exploit them in a more efficient manner into an extended virtual organization. E-SCM applications support companies to win competitive advantage because they create more value for the customer and have the goal to satisfy the client requirements in the best possible way and in real time. E-SCM applications allow the creation of extra value for the customer and have the goal to satisfy the client requirements in the best possible way and in real time. Migration to a web based approach for SCM applications is required for streamlining Supply Chain activities, maintaining a consistent quality of service and controlled distribution of the data which otherwise cannot be achieved. According to Ross (Ross, 2003) , SCM represents much more than these. In order to figure out its entire extent, we should approach it from three perspectives: -tactical: SCM is an operations management technique that seeks to integrate and optimize the capabilities of internal business functions and to direct them to new opportunities for cost reduction and increased channel throughput by working with the matching functions from the Supply Chain partners, customers and suppliers. Tactical SCM can be divided in four activities: suppliers management and inventory optimization, product and service processing, customer management and customer order management, channel support activities for facilitate financial transactions, marketing information flows, electronic information transfer, integrated logistics -strategic: SCM transforms the linear, sequential SC into a networked SC focused on functional and strategic interoperability through collaborative partnerships for the correlation of SC processes. The SC process correlation creates unique sources of value by unifying resources, competencies, capacities of the entire network (Ross, 2003) . These tactical and strategic approaches are focused on the evolution of business network, resulting in innovations, new processes and technologies, increased reliability and speed and mass customization economies. -Web technologies: e-SCM enables the integration and synchronization of all SC information and processes. Web based applications allow the reduction of transactional costs with 80% compared to private network cost. E-commerce standards (e.g. XML, Java) enable low cost integration of customer, supplier, product information and competencies from SC partners, the transmission of documents and data in real time at every level in the Supply Chain. E-SCM generates more value for customers through the agile, flexible, collaborative intelligent systems built on dynamic networks of Web enabled partners.
doi:10.5772/22374 fatcat:jhpwrimxkna2bknks6f7z2255y