ABSTRACT
Understanding the supply chain is increasingly important to those involved in related process and systems improvement. This chapter outlines the basic concepts and purposes of the supply chain.
The definition of a supply chain can legitimately be broad or narrow, depending on the perspective of the “definer.” The trend is to broaden the definition of the supply chain. One speaker at a recent conference sponsored by the Council of Logistics Management (CLM) described it broadly. We paraphrase, “The supply chain is as all that happens to a product from dirt to dust.” The supply chain begins, in the speaker’s view, with mining ores and growing crops, extracting raw material from Mother Earth. The chain goes on to a multitude of conversion and distribution processes that deliver the product to the end user. It ends with ultimate disposal — presumably back to Mother Earth somewhere.
