The Practice of Supply Chain Management: Where Theory and Application Converge

edited by: Terry P. Harrison, Hau L. Lee, and John J. Neale Kluwer Academic Publishing, 2003

ISBN: 1-4020-7441-7

356 pages, $155

To order: visit www.wkap.nl/prod/b/1-4020-7441-7 or any major book retailer, such as Amazon.com

Don't pick up The Practice of Supply Chain Management expecting a how-to guide to supply chain management. In spite of the name, this book is really an anthology of articles addressing and summarizing some of the latest research and thought leadership in supply chain management.

Although the anthology does include pieces by technology providers and industry practitioners—such as DaimlerChrysler, Boeing, and HP—most of the writers come from academia. This bias influences the tone of the book. Even the case studies are viewed from an academic lens.

Yet the articles are not all textbook definitions and Ivory Tower abstractions. Instead they are based on reality. Many of the articles draw from observations and case studies of actual supply chains shed light on the latest supply chain trends—such as outsourcing, postponement, and integration. In this way, the book is more closely aligned with its subtitle, "Where Theory and Application Converge."

The editors—Terry Harrison, Hau Lee, and John Neale—have divided the articles into three sections: core concepts and practices, emerging supply chain practices, and supply chains in action. The first two sections predominantly focus on supply chain theory and guiding principles, whereas the articles in the last section typically are more oriented toward company case studies and real-life examples.

Articles in the first section address more general (less leading-edge) topics such as key supply chain design considerations, integrating demand information into tactical planning, inventory management, and performance metrics. The articles can be hit or miss. Yet the best chapters, such as those on inventory management and performance metrics, provide thoughtful summation of the topic's key salient points.

The second section focuses on emerging trends in the industry such as outsourcing, information integration and collaboration initiatives, and exchanges. While these topics may not be new to supply chain managers, the articles do a good job of synthesizing or packaging the ideas in useful ways. For example, the article by S. Venkatesh and Jayashankar Swaminathan on postponement presents the different approaches, benefits, and costs associated with this management technique.

The book finishes by providing some real case studies. For example, Seunjin Whang' s chapter describes how Seven Eleven Japan created greater supply chain integration through a rich sharing of point-of-sale information. Other articles look at how Lucent Technologies overcame insufficient capacity and lengthy order fulfillment cycle to meet customer demand, and how Home Depot is using combinatorial auctions to purchase transportation.

The Practice of Supply Chain Management: Where Theory and Application Converge is part of Kluwer International Series on Operation Research Management Science.

Supply Chains: A Manager's Guide

David A. Taylor

Addison Wesley, 2004

ISBN: 0-201-84463-X

358 pages; $34.99

To order: visit www.awprofessional.com or www.supplychainguide.com or most major book retailers, such as Amazon.com

Supply chains, insists consultant and technology expert David Taylor, are everyone's business. Every manager in your business touches the supply chain in some way and, therefore, should have at least a working knowledge of supply chain management.

The problem, according to Taylor, is that "supply chains are anything but user-friendly." To help the general manager get up-to-speed on the basic concepts, tools, and elements of the supply chain, he has written Supply Chains: A Manager's Guide. Taylor's brisk writing style and clearly organized text makes the complex and often technical world of supply chain management easily digestible to the nonspecialist.

Taylor's text flows in a logical manner. Divided into three sections, it provides readers first with a big picture overview, then summarizes supply chain tools, and finally takes a close look at supply chain operations, planning, and design.

The opening section pulls off a great balancing act. Taylor is able to articulate the underlying principles of supply chain management in simple terms while also explaining the complexity and variability that make managing supply chains so difficult. In this way, he both saves the general manager from drowning in too many technical details and acknowledges the real-life difficulties that he or she will face.

To help managers work within a complex and variable supply chain, Taylor arms them with a basic understanding of three key tools: systems theory, modeling, and supply chain technology. All three of these topics can be highly complex and theoretical, but Taylor does a good job of summarizing what is important for managers to know about each.

The third, and largest, section of the book discusses the actual details of managing a supply chain. For example, it provides a quick summary of all the steps and considerations necessary for fulfilling an order and replenishing supply. A basic framework for selecting performance measurements is also presented.

It would be impossible to write a book that was both accessible to the general manager and completely comprehensive. Still, some areas would have benefited from a little more meat.

For example, Taylor persuasively states that the only way to create a strong supply chain is to collaborate with trading partners. Such a key point, however, deserves a bit more space than Taylor gives it. Readers would have appreciated Taylor's practical voice on matters such as the varying degrees of collaboration, best practices, and pitfalls.

Yet overall, Taylor does an excellent job of maintaining an unwavering focus on his target audience. For example, he distills out the main point of each paragraph into a short margin note, making it easy for busy managers to skim the book and read selectively. Also helpful are the appendices. "Suggested Readings" goes a step beyond listing other key resources to dividing them into advanced and intermediate readings and providing a one-sentence summary of each. Finally, the glossary defines key supply chain terms in simple English.

While not meant for the supply chain specialist, Taylor's book is an excellent suggestion for the colleague or student looking to quickly gain knowledge of the supply chain.

Glossary of Supply Chain Terminology: For Logistics, Manufacturing, Warehousing, and Technology

Philip Obal

Industrial Data & Information Inc., 2004

$49.95; 420 pages

To purchase: visit www.IDII.com

In the world of supply chain management, an acronym is seemingly born every day and a new term or piece of jargon every hour.

Philip Obal of Industrial Data & Information is trying to help managers live with this verbal population boom. The second edition of his Glossary of Supply Chain Terminology puts a wealth of definitions at the reader's fingertips. It binds together in one source the key words and acronyms used not only in warehousing, logistics, and purchasing but also in government, manufacturing, and computers.

The glossary first divides the terms into 12 sections, each of which focuses on specific subjects, such as standards, transportation, pallet, and material safety data sheets. It then consolidates all of the terms into one main glossary.

There are both benefits and drawbacks to this organizational choice. On the plus side, the novice who wants definitions for the most common keywords associated with, say, transportation might appreciate having them all grouped together. Yet, the book's design can make it difficult for the reader to look up a term quickly. If you open up the glossary to a random page, it's not obvious which section you are in. This means that each time you look up a word you have to refer to the table of contents. This problem could have been easily solved by using tabs to separate the sections or even simply by listing the section at the top of each page.

Perhaps this organization style would have worked better for a Web-based dictionary that allowed the user to search by word or subject area. This also would allow the glossary to be updated on a regular basis.

In fact, before purchasing Obal's glossary, potential buyers may want to first assess the reference resources already available for free over the Internet. Acronym.com, for example, provides an extensive list of acronym definitions. But the user has to sift through those that are not applicable to the supply chain field. Depending on the acronym, that list may be lengthy.

For term definition, the search engine Google does a fairly good job. For example if you type in a term—such as "supply chain" or "public warehouse" or even "racked across stringers"—and the word "definition," the search engine instantly pulls a "Web definition" from a referenced Web site. Furthermore, the definitions produced are often comparable to the ones in Obal's glossary. Google, however, is not 100-percent effective. Certain phrases—for example, "accumulating conveyor," "zone pick," and surprisingly "logistics management"—did not produce any definitions—only the usual links to Web sites. Additionally, searches for words that have different definition in different fields—such as "payload"—will turn up multiple definitions. For these reasons, a supply chain specific glossary still has its use.