Managing the Supply Chain: The Definitive Guide for the Business Professional - Hardcover

by David Simchi-Levi (Author), Philip Kaminsky (Author), Edith Simchi-Levi (Author)

In today's environment of tight budgets and even tighter turnarounds, effective supply-chain management has become a core business requirement. Managing the Supply Chain adapts the number one supply-chain book on the college market to examine how professionals can consistently turn supply-chain strategy into a competitive advantage.

This results-based book examines the experiences of today's most accomplished companies to demonstrate supply-chain innovation at work in the marketplace.

Back Jacket

Innovative Supply Chain Solutions from Amazon.com, Coca-Cola, Dell, Wal-Mart, and other supply chain leaders

Today's fiercely competitive environment of tight budgets and even faster turnarounds has made the effective integration of suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and stores a competitive necessity. Managing the Supply Chain examines how leading companies have answered the call by analyzing and revamping every step in their supply chains, significantly reducing distribution costs and delivery times while increasing bottom-line profit.

Case studies and examples combine with insightful analysis to reveal how top companies remain competitive by squeezing every possible improvement from every aspect of their supply chain. Managing the Supply Chain provides today's most in-depth examination of important advances in supply chain strategies and technologies, including:

• Techniques for meeting all supply chain challenges, from managing risk through achieving global optimization
• Effective strategies for partnering, supply chain integration, inventory optimization, make-or-buy decisions, and more
• Comparison, tradeoffs, and implementation issues associated with the various strategies

As today's managers know, ongoing supply chain innovations have made managing a business more complex than at any time in the past. Let Managing the Supply Chain show you how leading organizations are reducing variability in their supply chain operations--by broadening their focus to encompass today's limitless supply chain possibilities.

"In the last few years, analysis and insight have improved and effective models and decision-support systems have been developed--but these may not be familiar to industry. This book aims to fill this gap by presenting state-of-the-art models and solution methods, insights, and concepts important in the design, control, operation, and management of supply chain systems."

--From Chapter 1: Introduction

Even before decision-makers knew it by name, supply chain management was always a critical factor in determining the success or failure of a business. Today, it has become increasingly apparent that monumental financial advantages can be attained through relatively minor supply chain adjustments--and, conversely, that catastrophic losses can result from ignoring those adjustments.

Managing the Supply Chain provides a step-by-step template for protecting your company's competitive stance by fine-tuning every aspect of its supply chain operation. Case studies and examples reveal the strategies and struggles behind some of today's greatest success stories, including:

• How Wal-Mart used cross-docking, strategic partnering, and information technology to grow from a niche retailer to the largest--and most profitable--retailer in the world
• How Dell used virtual integration to blur traditional supply chain boundaries between suppliers, manufacturers, and end users
• How Grainger.com helped the distributor reach out to its customers--and increase the size of each order

Beyond these examples, however, this important book demonstrates how organizations of any size or industry can adopt and adapt successful supply chain strategies to quickly enter new markets and build strategic alliances; understand and implement the latest technologies; identify the best business model for a specific supply chain; improve on-time delivery while significantly decreasing inventory levels and costs; and more.

How can you improve your company's current supply chain strategy? Managing the Supply Chain takes you through your entire supply chain strategy, from supply acquisition through retailer communication, to reveal hundreds of ways in which world-class organizations are asking and answering that question. Regardless of your industry or position within that industry, it will provide you with the answers you need to identify best practices, eliminate costly overlap, and gain valuable advantages from every supply chain operation.

Author Biography

David Simchi-Levi, Ph.D., is a professor of engineering systems at MIT, cofounder and chairman of Logic Tools, Inc., and the recipient of a number of awards for his work in supply, logistics, and transportation. Dr Simchi-Levi is the coauthor of The Logic of Logistics, a book describing the theory behind logistics and supply chain management.

Philip Kaminsky, Ph.D., is an associate professor of industrial engineering at the University of California at Berkeley and a globally renowned consultant in supply chain and production management.

Edith Simchi-Levi is a co-founder and vice president of operations for Logic Tools, Inc. She has extensive experience in software development as well as logistics and supply chain management consulting.