Designing a More Effective Supply Chain

Supply chain can be considered as a series of linked inventories. This paper considers the impact of inventory on the economics of the businesses and the whole chain and discusses causes of inefficiency. In most supply chains the goods are inactive for the majority of the time, and this leads to longer term and therefore less accurate forecasting. The result is typically excess inventory, shortages, and inflexibility. By analysing the wasted time and costs in the supply chain, a clearer view of the whole process can be created. Total supply time can be considered as three components, namely value added time, non-value added process time, and waste time. This basic approach shows where improvements should be focussed. Using this time-based measurement enables more relevant comparison between supply chains than the normal supply chain efficiency ratio.