Supply Chains: A Manager's Guide

Chapter 4. Supply Chains as Systems

Integrating a supply chain requires assembling an ad hoc collection of facilities into a coherent system that can function with a single purpose. In order to succeed in this effort, you need to know something about systems—how they are designed, how they work, and how they are controlled. In short, you need a little systems theory. This may sound like an abstract subject of limited relevance to your needs, but nothing could be further from the truth. As a manager, you deal with some of the most complex systems on earth every day, and your experience has already given you a basic understanding of how these systems work. The problem with this understanding is that it's largely intuitive, making it hard to use ...