The development of Supply Chain Management has occurred gradually over the latter half of the last century, and in this century will continue to evolve in response to the continual changes in the business environment. As organizations exhaust opportunities for internal breakthrough improvements, they will increasingly turn toward the supply chain for an additional source of untapped improvements. Manufacturers in particular can benefit from this increased focus on the chain, but the gains realized will vary by the type of supply chain. By applying basic production control principles to the chain, and effectively using tools already common at the production line level, organizations address important supply chain considerations. Both the Theory of Constraints and the factory physics principles behind the Constant WIP concepts focus on the system constraint with the aim of controlling inventory. Each can be extrapolated to focus on a system whose boundaries span the entire supply chain
