Structures and Technologies for Stepwise Implementation of Adaptive Supply Chain

Abstract

Falling margins, globalization, and accelerating innovation cycles are forcing businesses to switch from traditional (linear and sequential) supply chains to adaptive supply chain that possess the flexibility needed to respond to the environment in real time. As adaptive supply chains are large and complex, they are built step-wise using structures; structures are a well-defined portion of the system, with carefully defined inputs, outputs, and functions. In addition, the structures must follow common standards, based on common architecture for seamless integration with the rest of the components. In this paper, first, we present the problem of implementing a new iterative-based distribution chain that has four distinctive modules. Second, we present a survey of commonly used structures in some of the wellknown modern supply chain solutions (e.g. stages in SAP, layers in HP Real Time Supply Chain, modules in i2 Six/IBM) is presented. Third, by going through the structures, we present an optimal solution for implementation of the adaptive distribution chain

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