Supply Chain Architecture: A Blueprint for Networking the Flow of Material, Information, and Cash

Supply Chain Architecture: A Blueprint for Networking the Flow of Material, Information, and Cash applies five crucial business principles to solve network problems for geographically separated workers who must team together to deliver products and services.

These five principles--Velocity, Variability, Vocalize, Visualize, and Value--simplify the design and operation of complex, real-world supply chain networks for broad use throughout the manufacturing and service sectors. Written by an accomplished practitioner in common sense language, this "how to" book provides a complete blueprint for transforming marginal business relationships into exceptionally competitive networks.

The author clearly explains how a supply chain network's competitiveness is defined by the integration of network design, the product Bill of Materials, and the network operations, not by a particular technology solution. This volume inspires you to see beyond the confines of your organization to unlock the competitive energy of end-to-end supply chain networks. It offers complete coverage of important topics that have previously received little attention, including the implementation of global performance measures, planning at the interface between push and pull operations, minimization of velocity traps, and paralleling cash-to-cash cycles.

About the Author

William T. Walker, CFPIM, CIRM is an expert in supply chain architecture and an accomplished practitioner. Bill’s 33 years of experience with Hewlett-Packard and its spin-off, Agilent Technologies, included the design, operation, and optimization of global supply chain networks. His work involved new product development, commodity sourcing, import/export logistics, operations outsourcing, inventory risk management, product line transfers, new product distribution, and reverse supply chains. Bill was a contributing author to Supply Chain Networks and Business Process Orientation, CRC Press (2003) and was coauthor of Supply Chain Management: Principles & Techniques for the Practitioner, APICS (1998).