A Blueprint for Supply Chain Optimization

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the September-October 2013 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

September-October 2013

The 2013 ranking of supply chain leaders from Gartner highlights the best of the best—large, global companies that are furthest along on the journey toward demand-driven supply chains. While the mix of companies is diverse, there are lessons to be learned from these supply chain leaders.

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In today’s demand driven, omni-channel world, it is easy to underestimate the complexity of global supply chains. Yet the growth of global markets, increasing customer expectations, rising costs, and more intense and diverse competitive pressures are driving the development of new supply chain strategies and intricate network designs. That increasing complexity is exactly why supply chain networks need to be frequently re-evaluated.

In fact, a world class supply chain network is essential for product to consistently flow from the point of manufacture to the end user, regardless of the industry served. A well-designed supply chain network can significantly improve margins, support expansion into new markets, enhance the customer experience, and reduce operating costs. That applies to companies in all stages of maturity: Growth-oriented companies, companies in transition, and companies with stable business operations can all benefit from distribution networks that are optimized to meet ever present challenges and opportunities.

While there are more tools available than in the past to perform a network analysis, there remain a number of important steps that must be taken. In this article, we present a blueprint for successful supply chain optimization.

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