Managing the supply chain is a competitive necessity in today's global marketplace where differentiation between products and services means providing a total value package that can compete for an increasingly discerning and empowered customer.

For those who do not grasp the importance of strategizing and managing the supply chain, the likelihood is they will increasingly feel the effects of market turbulence, where reactive alignment to the marketplace clock of opportunity, or catching up with the competition can have many costs.

Traditionally management of organizations, and more noticeably with large organizations, optimization of operations, of functions, was left to individual production and inventory units. Inventory has been used to buffer against incompatibilities of adjacent links in the logistics chain and against operational uncertantities. This traditional approach to buying, storing and making goods is a fragmented one.

Today's view is one of integration. Supply chain management is the integrated management of business links, of information flows and of people. Attention is given to the whole chain from raw material supply, manufacture, assembly and distribution to the end customer. The supply chain is viewed as a logistics channel, a thread which not only provides the means of getting goods, services and information to the customer, but also continually strives to do so in the most efficient and innovative way.

To achieve integration and innovation the managed supply chain must utilize the resources of technology and most importantly people. A fundamental development in supply chain management is the recognition of the need to create...