How quilts are made


Supply Chain Integration

Let's take a quick look and analyze yourwith a geographic solution. The dilemma of
position in the Supply Chain. You are eitherreducing cost is measured in time or
the one driving the truck, the one pumpingtransportation, with the scales continuously
the gas, or the one paying the other two. Itpivoting to and fro. Sometimes the objectives
does not matter if you are a vendor,favor customer satisfaction, speed to market
supplier, manufacturer, dealer, serviceand the ability to deliver, while in other
supplier or customer, the cost of freightinstances the burden favors the bottom
either impacts the amount you charge, theline.Fortunately there is an alternative. It
amount you are reimbursed or the price youis not about moving products more quickly, or
pay. It is safe to assume that you are thechoosing the most economical method of
center of the universe for your personaltransportation, or the geography. The new
Supply Chain and that suppliers and customersobjective for business is moving items
revolve around your business. That was easy,less.For years companies have utilized
now let's move on.A zeitgeist must firstcomputers and internal IT development to
understand how the threads of history havecreate sophisticated reports that measure
been woven to reflect the patchwork quilt ofbusiness according to antiquated rules. The
the current generation, and only thenidea that generating forecasts for purchasing
endeavor to peer into the next. Let's take aand rotating inventory is based on the
moment to contrast emerging communicationassumption that stock must be owned and
technologies as reflected with Supply Chainmanaged in-house. IT development has been
Solutions and transportation.The Ponyused to provide expanded reports and
ExpressThe famous Pony Express operated fromexpedited processes based on existing
April 1860 to November 1861. The cost of mailprocedures. This frequently results in a
was $5 per 1/2 ounce, later reduced to $1 percompany investing millions of dollars to
1/2 ounce. The quickest run took 7 days andimprove algorithms that forecast purchases,
17 hours to carry President Lincoln'sincreasing manual intervention to correct
inaugural address from St. Joseph, Missouripredictions in direct proportion to the
to Sacramento, California.In 1825, Britishnumber of variables. Not surprisingly, such
inventor William Sturgeon exhibited a deviceIT investments typically do not yield the
that laid the foundation for electronicdesired bottom line results.Next generation
communications, the electro-magnet. By 1830,of Supply Chain Integration utilizes network
an American, Joseph Henry used Sturgeon'sconnectivity with multiple vendors to reduce
device to send an electric current over onefreight, transportation, geographical
mile of wire which caused a bell to strike.boundaries and in some cases ownership. IT
By 1838 Samuel Morse gave a publicdevelopment is focused on integrating
demonstration of an electromagnetic devicepartners in collective, secure and
that embossed dots and dashes on a piece ofcollaborative networks for shared visibility
paper. Five years later, Congress fundedand planning. Data is moved more effectively
development to construct an experimentaland efficiently than products, parts or
telegraph line. On May 24, 1844, the messageparcels. Ownership transfers when orders
"What hath God wrought?" was transmitted fromtransmit, and inventory is managed in a
the Supreme Court chamber in the Unitedmanner that mitigates movement. Vendor
States Capitol to an office in Baltimore andManaged Inventory can be achieved
officially opened the first completedsimultaneously with multiple vendors and
telegraph line. Western Union built anumerous customer partners through
transcontinental telegraph line in 1861, andsophisticated impartial third party
suddenly news by wire traveled faster andintegrators. The exchange of products and
reached more people than the parcels bypurchases can be replaced by a data exchange,
Pony.On March 10, 1876 Alexander Graham Bellcreating total cost reductions that benefit
invented the telephone. Telephones quicklythe bottom line.The next generation of Supply
surpassed telegraphs as lines were installed,Chain Integration can be achieved by major
because it brought instant communication andmanufacturers, dealers, distributors and
connectivity to the common man. Instantservice providers through third party
communication by phone quickly replaced Morseintegration and common platforms. The
Code and Mail to stay connected.Consolidatedgreatest savings in the supply chain are not
Freight, Low Rates and SpeedIn 1907 Jamesrelated to a truck, a plane or a warehouse.
Casey borrowed $100 from a friend toThe greatest efficiencies in the supply chain
establish the American Messenger System inare coming from IT. Much like the impact of
Seattle, Washington. The 19 year old foundedthe telephone and telegraph to the Pony
his company on the principles of courtesy,Express, the Internet is providing the next
reliability and low rates. By 1913 hisgeneration of improvements for our supply
company acquired it's first automobile tochain.This concept is already entrenched in
consolidate shipments and carry more goods.e-commerce. Individuals operating home based
In 1919 the company changed it's name tobusinesses are selling goods on eBay,
United Parcel Services, and in 1922 itprocuring supply in direct proportion to
acquired a Los Angeles company withdemand. It is not uncommon for individuals to
innovative "common carrier" services. In 1929sell products on eBay that are acquired from
UPS was the first package delivery company toa local vendor or craftsman. The seller on
use airlines, serving all US states byeBay is the impartial third party integrator
1978.On the first night of continuousbetween the supply and the demand, leveraging
operation In 1971, 14 Federal Express jetsthe convenience of the Internet to connect
delivered 186 packages overnight to 25the interested parties. This is a very simple
cities. By 1981 Federal Express introducedexample of using technology to minimize
the overnight letter and expanded serviceinventory ownership by maximizing technology.
into Canada. In 1985, bar code labeling wasImagine how much more effective the solution
introduced to trace packages. By 1995 FedExcan be for complex integration of multiple
acquires air routes with internationalsuppliers with diverse geographic locations
authority to serve China. Ten years laterand reduced transfer of inventory. This is
FedEx announces development of a new Asiathe concept of the next generation of Supply
Pacific hub in China, and around the worldChain Integration.We are only at the
flights Eastbound and Westbound.The firstbeginning of this transformation. Some
recorded transcripts of a "Galactic Network"companies have already realized the financial
are attributed to J.C.R. Licklider of MIT inbenefits of leveraging IT solutions to
1962. In 1964 Leonard Kleinrock of MITmaximize and compress the supply chain.
published a book on the theoreticalRecognizing and understanding this
feasibility of communications using packettransformation is the first step, what you do
switching rather than circuits. The conceptwith this knowledge is the next. Experts in
of open architecture networking wastechnology and supply chain solutions are
introduced by Kahn in 1972, and subsequentlyavailable to help guide you and offer the
became known as a program calledsecure buffer that is your link between
"Internetting". In 1991 Modems transmittedmultiple vendors. The direction is not as
data at 14.4 kilobits per second. Speedsdifficult as you may imagine. Trade in your
doubled to 28.8k by 1994, and eventually tomicroscope from studying your exchange of
56k. Meanwhile, Bob Metcalf and David Boggsproducts or parts, and turn it in for your
had developed the Ethernet at Xerox Palo Altoperiscope to data
Research Center (PARC) in 1973. Xerox, DECexchange.____________________________________
and Intel invested in development and agreed__________________Words of Wisdom"Technology
to make the technology free to anyone tois dominated by two types of people: those
build. By 1981 the technology emerged fromwho understand what they do not manage, and
the laboratory to the public as 3Com shippedthose who manage what they do not
the first Ethernet Hardware. As the abilityunderstand."
to move parcels overnight has improved
dramatically, so has the ability to transmit- Putt's Law"With leaders, the future calls
packets by increasingly high speedto them in a voice they can't drown out. The
connections.The Next Generation of Supplyfuture is more real than the present; it
Chain IntegrationCommon approaches tocompels  them  to  act."
improving the supply chain involve faster
delivery or lower cost for transportation.- Marcus Buckingham, "Three Things You Need
Solutions are typically centered onto Know""Reinvention. What a quintessential
geographic locations of hubs, consolidatedAmerica idea. It's the frontier spirit. It's
carriers and maximized routes. In some casesBen Franklin. It's Ralph Waldo Emerson, and
the response is a galleria of products andby God, it's Tony Robbins and Stephen Covey
processes housed in a consolidated campus,too. They all understand the American impetus
while another strategy promotes multipleand genius for wholesale self-reinvention. We
regional facilities for geographicsurvive by staring change in the eye, and
convenience. There is a common theme that theadapting.
supply chain is viewed as a freight problem



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