Supply Chain Management

Why do Supply Chain Management and structured problem-solving techniques go hand in hand with one another? What did you learn about this process from last quarter, and how will you improve your knowledge in this second course of the program?
As a reminder, a supply chain is a network of markets that include businesses and consumers coming together. When you remember this, you can articulate how supply chains solve problems in markets by bringing stakeholders together whether it is local, regional, national, or global. In order to understand what a supply chain is, you must first understand what is a market.
The equation B2B + B2C = Supply Chain Management is intended to represent the idea of how supply chains bring together markets. It demonstrates succinctly how markets are structured within the supply chain system. Students should consider marketing and supply chain management to be within one continuum, as well, supply chain to be connected to other disciplines as well (management, finance, accounting, information technology, etc.).
What is Supply Chain Management?
As we discussed in Course #1, a supply chain can be structured and organized as practically anything, for-profit or non-profit. By its very name, supply chains are defined as a linear chain, in this course we discuss that the system is less structural and more circular than linear, which will be the supply chain of the future. Above all, and something that every student should leave this program remembering, a supply chain is a system that is in place to solve a problem.
Consider again the infographic below of the U.S. food supply chain. Look at the number of brands that are in today’s supermarket, yet brought to you by a much smaller number of companies than you probably imagined. For example, most do not know (or care) that Nestle is the same company that brings coffee, ice cream, and bottled water to their homes. This is an example of how supply chains have enabled companies to provide to the needs of their consumers all over the world, and continuing to grow into new markets.
As a result of this, marketing has increasingly become less about what we normally think about things like advertisements and jingles, and more about finding better ways to get the goods we need and desire to the market.
Today, we face a changing nature of supply chain as a result of many challenges and opportunities, including pandemics and geopolitical shifts. A foundational understanding of problem solving should be our guide through these great transitions.

1. Concept of IntegrationLinks to an external site., pages 27-33. National Research Council. 2000. Surviving Supply Chain Integration: Strategies for Small Manufacturers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://www.nap.edu/read/6369/chapter/5#27Links to an external site.
2. American Society for Quality. 2019. “The Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC) ProcessLinks to an external site.” Accessed August 5, 2019. https://asq.org/quality-resources/dmaicLinks to an external site.
3. Henshall, Adam. 2017. “DMAIC: The Complete Guide to Lean Six Sigma in 5 Key StepsLinks to an external site..” November 24, 2017. https://www.process.st/dmaic/Links to an external site.

In the first course, we discussed the six pillars of Supply Chain Management (SCM), as shown below:

The six pillars of SCM are as follows:
1) Design – the design of the supply chain system and the product or service offering.
2) Commit – the procurement or strategic sourcing process of getting the materials in order to make the product or service.
3) Schedule – the planning process of the supply chain system.
4) Make – the manufacturing of the product.
5) Deliver – the logistics of the product to include warehousing, transportation, distribution and retailing.
6) Sustain – the full cycle of the product in order to reuse, reduce, and recycle.
As you hopefully recall from the first course, the goal of this system is to work in concert within the overall system. In this course, we will focus on the first three elements of the six pillars, the Supply Chain Planning.
Note in the first course that you were asked to critique this system, not as a set of absolute rules in how supply chains operate, but rather as an overall structure of it as a system. In this course, we will get more into the nuts and bolts of this system at its onset.
Note that the Six Pillars of Supply Chain are structured as they are for purposes of understanding, but as you learned in the last course, it is rarely so simple and clean. But what is important to understand, that will be discussed in this course, is how a good plan is critical for the execution of the supply chain. We’ll cover this in more detail.
https://youtu.be/1eMLu7xfLpw
DMAIC is the structured problem solving technique within Six Sigma. It requires the team to go through a process in order to determine the root cause problem or opportunity to address. We will continue to use this technique throughout the program as a foundation for supply chain management. Please refer to what you learned last quarter and work to improve your knowledge of this process every quarter in the program.
There are other tools and processes that are relevant in Six Sigma that will be useful in our supply chain journey, as follows:
1) The 5 Why Process – the goal of a 5 Why exercise is to keep asking why in order to get to the root cause problem or opportunity within the operation. Typically, a stakeholder will provide an explanation for why something is occurring that is a surface solution, not really the root cause. By interrogating the user to explore deeper, a deeper explanation is possible.
2) Value Stream Mapping – Value stream mapping exercises seek to better understand the people, process, and technology of an operation by mapping out these three elements into a visual to understand the current state in order to improve to a future state.
3) 5S Exercise – 5S is a method of organizing your workplace materials for quicker access and better maintenance. This system is essential for eliminating waste that is produced by poor workstations and tools in poor condition.
4) Continuous Improvement – Continuous improvement is a way of being in Six Sigma; to develop processes and goals to understand the current state in order to improve to a better future state. It can only be achieved by creating a culture, starting with the top leaders of a company and resonating throughout the organization and its suppliers.

While you are in this program I would like you to practice your DMAIC and Six Sigma skills because these skills are highly valuable in the workplace. Consider your assignments as tasks for a company, and utilize these methods!