An Investigation into the Best Current Practice of Supply Chain Managem

An Investigation into the Best Current Practice of ply Chain prudenceThis report documents an investigation into best current practice ofSupply Chain Management. Various methods of materials procural areoutlined in addition to their relevance to examples in modernindustry. The report discusses the ideal characteristics of a masteryful communicate chain. From a traditional perspective, this hasproven to be based around the development of strong inter-firmrelationships among the participating organisations that make up thesupply chain. Additionally, a detailed strategy of materialsmanagement is proposed for a manufacturer of earth moving equipmentJCB, and a digital camera manufacturer Sony.Management Practice Supply Chain ManagementMaterials procurement from the 60s to the 90sAlthough developed prior to this period, Henry Ford introduced astrong foundation for businesses of the mid-sixties with VerticalIntegration. Ford attempted to control all of the operations in hisbusiness by buying other companies in the distribution channel. TheFord Motor Company owned the suppliers up the channel in backward consolidation and down the channel in forward integration, therebygaining total control of all stages of the process from raw materialextraction to finished car showrooms. Organisations of the 1960smaintained this Vertical Integration structure, in addition tosomewhat adversarial inter-firm relationships that were a prevalentcharacteristic among 1960s businesses. Buyers and sellers typicallyoperated at arms-length, independent relationships, competing forresources rather than collaborating. The primordial benefits associatedwith the arms length philosophy were concerned with costeffectiveness when managing external sources. This arms lengthapproach to merchant and customer relations was balanced with the plumbly integrated structure, as primary functions of theorganisation were mostly under the firms control. Before long, thisvertically integrated organisational structure began to flatten, whichgave rise to the supply chain organisation. Many organisations beganto sell their units acquired by vertical integration and chose topartner with other companies that provided these services.Consequently, the concept of supply chain management developed, asorganisations were attempting to achieve ... ...o a lack of motivation of theorganisation in ensuring the success of the relationship with thesupplier. It is anticipated that this work has demonstrated theimportance of the role of the supply chain manager in establishingstrong relationships with suppliers.BibliographyBoddy, D. & Paton, R. (1998). Management an Introduction., PrenticeHall, Europe.Harrison, M. (1993) Operations Management Strategy. Pitman.Lines, D., Marcouse, I., & Martin, B. (2000). The complete A-ZBusiness Studies, 3rd ed., Hodder and Stoughton, England.Pietrak, W. J., Rietzke, J., & Wamsher, W. (1988) Materialrequirements planning. APICSOnlineJCB Groupn http//www.jcb.comSony Corporation http//www.sony.comDuxbury. (2004), What is Supply Chain Management?, Online.Availablehttp//www.duxbury.com/statistics_d/templates/student_resources/0534373631_shapiro/introduction/introduction.html2004, November 21.Minicom. (2004), Asset management systems, Online. Availablewww.mincom.com 2004, November 22.Seagate. (2004), Electronic entropy Interchange, Online. Availablehttp//www.seagate.com/support/edi/whatised.html 2004, November 24.