The Role of Information Technology in Supply Chain Management

The following research paper is based on The Home Depot Company, one of the largest home improvement specialty retailers in the United States. In addition, the analysis also includes supporting feedback obtained through an interview session with the Home Depot’s Operations Manager, Jaime. Jaime has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and has been employed by the company for eleven years. He possesses the knowledge and skills that are necessary to administer the supply chain management process for the 605 W. Morrison Rd. location store. The Home Depot has utilized several IT technologies that have helped the company gain core competencies in supply chain management processes. They have adopted the Omni-Channel Supply

Success for many organizations depends on the firm’s ability to balance product and process changes while exceeding customer expectations for improved cost delivery and quality. In lieu of these issues firms have started to implement principles of supply chain management. Supply chain management mainly involves managing the flow of incoming materials, manufacturing operations, and downstream distribution has to be in alignment that is responsive to change in customer demands eliminating a surplus of inventory.

Reorders are placed at the time of review (T), and the safety stock that must be reordered is:

Supply chains must be managed to coordinate the inputs with the outputs in a firm to achieve the appropriate competitive priorities of the firm’s enterprise processes. The Internet offers firms an alternative to traditional methods for managing supply chains. A supply chain strategy is essential

The flow of goods and services from initial raw material to consumers as finished goods and the reverse flow of the used or damaged goods combines multiple organization which have to function efficiently. Even though the functioning of an individual enterprise of the supply chain is for individual management but the entire supply chain have to be effectively managed. This is achieved through the help of Information technology. The IT support system provides with supply chain managers with relevant information at the right time. Depending on the time frame of the activities and the frequency at which they occur, i.e. strategic, tactical and operational levels of supply chain management. All these levels have different

Today’s world great organizations are emerging in inventing powerful resources for a competitive advantage. It is called supply chain management and it includes all integrated activates which introduce to market place and maintain customer satisfaction. This supply chain management drives from multi- disciplinary departments such as procuring, transportation, manufacturing products, customer services, distribution of product into integrated program. Successful management will be in coordination and integrated in all these activate in an unbroken chain process. It supports and interconnected to all the partners within the organization, where these partners are merchants, third party companies, transporters, third party companies and product providers.

The main strategies that WoodSynergy uses to enhance the Supply Chain performance and that are discussed in the case are classic disintermediation, remediation and net-work based mediation. In the first case the firm attempts to remove all of the intermediaries of the supply chain in which case the suppliers are in direct contact with its customers providing real-time interface. Besides providing consumers with a more direct convenience when it comes to making the goods more accessible, it can potentially translate into prices that are lower since supply chains are rationalized and the cost that is expected from these distributors is reduced. Furthermore, a firm is going to proceed to disintermediation when the cost to have a business relation with its intermediaries is higher than the importance that it is worth.

In the San Diego distribution center (DC) information flow example, dealers not being notified automatically of order status would be classified as

The current management of information systems, product development, and product sourcing methodologies has led to lower results than expected. It is necessary for the company to apply new supply chain management systems to build an efficient and competitive product and service infrastructure, net value, synchronize the supply of goods and to be able to measure the company’s performance.

chain has become a way of improving competitiveness by reducing uncertainty and improving service. One

University of Tampere, Finland {nicholas.mavengere, marko.makipaa, mikko.j.ruohonen}@uta.fi Abstract. The prevalent competitive business environment has forced companies to devise strategies to survive. Strategic agility is one such business imperative companies require in the dynamic environment. Strategic agility is comprised of strategic sensitivity, strategic response and collective capabilities. Moreover, companies are collaborating in order to gain competitive advantage. This led to formation of supply chain to work collectively in response to the environment pressures. In addition,

Since the 1960’s and the information revolution, man’s ability to transfer information has continued to grow not only more efficient but also more important. With the growth of e-commerce and electronic data interchange supplying a constantly updated information supply, being able to profit from information has been key to successful business practice. Originally exemplified by Wal-Mart’s ability to send and receive sales and supply information automatically, communication development, facilitated by services like the internet, has gone on to open up a worldwide market for many industries. This ability to transfer information instantaneously has given birth to a new generation of supply chain management systems where producers, suppliers, distributors, and increasingly even customers are all connected.

1.0 Introduction Christopher (2005, p.5) describes supply chain management as follows: “The management of upstream and downstream relationships with suppliers and customers to deliver superior customer value at less cost to the supply chain as a whole” Until recently, supply chain management has been largely viewed as a necessary evil and the focus has been strictly on cost reductions. Today however, many are coming to the realization that supply chain management can be much more strategic, affording a company the opportunity to out-perform competitors. With supply chains becoming more elongated as they become more global, the pace of demand changes increasing and

Enterprises around the world have a need to keep up with the technology, not only within the office walls but also throughout the supply chain. IT has become an integrated part of any system because people these days rely on technology for almost everything they do. Customers can search, compare and order goods via internet.

A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources, raw materials and components into a finished product that is delivered to the end customer. In sophisticated supply chain systems, used products may re-enter the supply chain at any point where