ABSTRACT
Managing the supply of parts coming into a company should begin long before raw material reaches the back dock or receiving area. However, the extent that this kind of management is needed far exceeds the expectations of most companies. The three very strong reasons to implement supply chain management arise from a company's need to
.. Reduce Operating Expense " Deliver on time .. Support product evolution
In today's competitive environment, there is tremendous pressure to lower prices. As prices are lowered, there is an expectation that profits must remain the same or increase. This has resulted in a tremendous amount of pressure to reduce Operating Expenses. The need to reduce Operating Expense implies a need to decrease inventories. Decreasing inventories have an important impact for on-time delivery. To a large number of vendors, reduced customer inventories has simply meant increased inventories for the vendor.
