Life Cycle Management in Supply Chains

Life Cycle Management in Supply Chains (PDF File)

Identifying Innovations Through the Case of the VCR

Toru Higuchi – Sakushingakuin University, Japan

Marvin Troutt – Kent State University, USA

IGI Publishing

A new and innovative product, if promising for commercialization, can open up an entire industry with associated supply chains. The product will evolve through various versions in response to market forces. Production processes and facility location decisions also must evolve in appropriate and predictable ways. These events have important implications for supply chain decisions. The overall history of such a product class can be called the Industrial Life Cycle.

In this book we discuss the various aspects of this Industrial Life Cycle. This theory subsumes the product life cycles of the various versions of the product and their overlaps, as well as their global diffusions. It also is impacted by customer life cycles and Vernon’s location or product cycle theory. Thus the Industrial Life Cycle represents the interplay of many individual cycles over a longer time span.

Supply chain management and competition can benefit by knowing these Industrial Life Cycle relationships and phenomena. Supply chain managers and partners can make and anticipate appropriate decisions by being cognizant of the cues, transition points, and events in the Industrial Life Cycle. The Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) was an excellent example product for this theory. It recently has completed its entire Industrial Life Cycle and provides many examples for illustrating the theory along with the competition, decisions, and problems faced by the supply chains operating in the industry.

We hope this work achieves our aim of a comprehensive and in-depth coverage of the intimate connections between the Industrial Life Cycle and supply chain management issues. We believe this new field will be of interest and use for both practitioners and researchers in supply chain management, strategy, and international business.

The Practice Of Supply Chain Management

The Practice Of Supply Chain Management (PDF File)

Where Theory And Application Converge

 

by

Terry P. Harrison (Penn State University)

Hau L. Lee (Stanford University)

John J. Neale (Optiant, Inc.)

 

Springer

 

For over a decade, there has been an increasing interest in the use of supply chain methods to improve performance across the entire business enterprise. Supply chain management has become a standard part of the business lexicon, and many firms now have a functional supply chain group. In addition to individual companies, numerous industries have recognized the importance of supply chain integration. Initiatives that aim at getting multiple companies to work together toward a more streamlined and efficient supply chain have been developed. The most well known of such industrywide initiatives include the Quick Response of the apparel industry, the Efficient Consumer Response of the grocery industry, the Efficient Foodservice Response of the foodservice industry, as well as other initiatives in the pharmaceutical, automobile, aerospace, personal computer, and semiconductor industries.

 

 

Vault Career Guide To Supply Chain Management

Vault Career Guide To Supply Chain Management (PDF File)

 

by Javed Khan and the staff of Vault

 

Supply chain management is the coordination of efforts of a network of vendors that provides materials and components for a company.s products. Supply chain management primarily takes place in manufacturing companies such as Chrysler, Sony, and Boeing. Of course, no two companies operate the same way, so supply chain management practices vary greatly – even for companies in the same industry. For example, a company at the cutting edge of technology tends to look for a supply chain that has very short lead times (the time to make and deliver a product), whereas a company whose products have many competitors needs a supply chain that focuses on cost reduction. The methods described in this book are representative of many companies, but there are always exceptions to the rule. One of the exciting aspects of Supply Chain Management is that it is a dynamic field. There are constant innovations being made such as RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and Vendor Managed Inventory, and the globalization of the economy continues to have a significant impact on the industry…