供應(yīng)鏈管理abc[外文翻譯]

1、<p><b>　　畢業(yè)論文外文翻譯</b></p><p><b>　　譯文</b></p><p>　　標題：供應(yīng)鏈管理ABC</p><p>　　資料來源：The ABCs of Supply Chain Management</p><p>　　作者：Christopher Koc

2、h</p><p><b>　　什么是供應(yīng)鏈管理？</b></p><p>　　供應(yīng)鏈是一種關(guān)于科學(xué)和藝術(shù)的整合，它主要的探究目標是為了提高企業(yè)采購生產(chǎn)商品所需原材料、生產(chǎn)商品或服務(wù)并把它供應(yīng)給最終顧客的途徑。以下是供應(yīng)鏈管理的五個基本組成模塊：</p><p>　　1）計劃--它是供應(yīng)鏈的戰(zhàn)略層面。企業(yè)需要有一個能控制所有資源的戰(zhàn)略，該戰(zhàn)略用

3、于滿足客戶對產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)的需求。計劃的核心是建立一套機制去監(jiān)控整條供應(yīng)鏈以便使它能有效運作：成本最低、高品質(zhì)配送和增值客戶服務(wù)。</p><p>　　2）采購—選擇供給你需要用來生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)的原材料或服務(wù)的供應(yīng)商。和供應(yīng)商建立一套價格、供應(yīng)、支付過程的體系，創(chuàng)造一種機制用以監(jiān)控和提高與供應(yīng)商之間的關(guān)系。把這些過程結(jié)合在一起以管理供應(yīng)商交付的原材料庫存或服務(wù)，其中包括收貨、驗證、轉(zhuǎn)移到企業(yè)的生產(chǎn)設(shè)施中和授權(quán)供應(yīng)商付

4、款。</p><p>　　3）制造—這是制造步驟。為了生產(chǎn)來安排這些的必需的活動：包括測試、包裝、預(yù)交付。作為供應(yīng)鏈的核心機制，它意味著衡量質(zhì)量水平，產(chǎn)量和工廠工人的生產(chǎn)能力。</p><p>　　4）配送—許多權(quán)威人士都把它歸咎為物流的一部分。它包括協(xié)調(diào)客戶下達的訂單收據(jù)，建立倉庫網(wǎng)絡(luò)，挑選運營商獲得的產(chǎn)品給客戶，并設(shè)立一個開票系統(tǒng)收取款項。</p><p>　　

5、5）回收—供應(yīng)鏈的難題之一。這需要創(chuàng)建一個網(wǎng)絡(luò)以接收那些從客戶返回的缺陷產(chǎn)品或過剩產(chǎn)品，支持對接收到的貨物有質(zhì)疑的客戶。</p><p>　　對于這些步驟的更詳細介紹，檢查www.supply - chain.org非營利供應(yīng)CChain局的網(wǎng)站。</p><p>　　供應(yīng)鏈管理軟件能干什么？</p><p>　　供應(yīng)鏈管理軟件可能是這個星球上最分散的應(yīng)用軟件。五大

6、供應(yīng)鏈前面介紹</p><p>　　的步驟，每一個組成幾十個具體的任務(wù)，其中不少有自己特定的軟件。因此有一些大的軟件供應(yīng)商嘗試將這些不同的軟件模塊整合在一個平臺之上，但是由于種種因素沒有一家供應(yīng)商能有一個完整的軟件包，整合這些不同的軟件模塊已成為他們的噩夢。或許建置供應(yīng)鏈軟件最好的途徑是把他們拆分開：分成幫助企業(yè)計劃供應(yīng)鏈的軟件和幫助企業(yè)執(zhí)行供應(yīng)鏈的軟件兩種。</p><p>　　供應(yīng)鏈計

7、劃（SCP）軟件使用獨特的數(shù)學(xué)算法來幫助企業(yè)減少存貨，提高供應(yīng)鏈運作效率。供應(yīng)鏈計劃軟件完全依靠精確的數(shù)據(jù)來運行。例如，一個制造廠商，如果不能提供最新的客戶訂單信息、分銷商的庫存信息、工廠制造能力信息、配送能力給供應(yīng)鏈計劃軟件，就不要期望供應(yīng)鏈計劃軟件能跑出精確的你所期望的結(jié)果。供應(yīng)鏈計劃軟件適用于先前提到的供應(yīng)鏈的五個主要模塊，他的核心在于需求計劃--企業(yè)能生產(chǎn)多少產(chǎn)品來滿足不同的客戶需求。</p><p>　

8、　供應(yīng)鏈執(zhí)行（SCE）軟件的功能是使供應(yīng)鏈的不同步驟自動化。它通過信息排程的方式將訂單從生產(chǎn)工廠傳遞給原材料供應(yīng)商。</p><p>　　3．在安裝供應(yīng)鏈管理軟件之前需要有企業(yè)資源計劃軟件嗎？</p><p>　　這是一個非常有爭議的問題。一般的，如果企業(yè)計劃安裝供應(yīng)鏈計劃軟件，那么企業(yè)可能首先要有企業(yè)資源計劃軟件，因為供應(yīng)鏈計劃軟件依賴各種信息才能良好的運轉(zhuǎn)，而這些信息大部分在企業(yè)資源計

9、劃軟件中都已經(jīng)存在。理論上你可以從企業(yè)歷史遺留下來的系統(tǒng)（對于大多數(shù)企業(yè)來說，EXCEL表在各種不同的地方都有使用）中收集供應(yīng)鏈計劃軟件所需的各種數(shù)據(jù)，但是要快速、可靠的從企業(yè)的各個部門搜集其所有所需的信息簡直就是一場惡夢。然而企業(yè)資源計劃軟件就是一個整合所有信息的有效工具。如果企業(yè)已經(jīng)建置了企業(yè)資源計劃軟件，供應(yīng)鏈計劃軟件就有了一個單一穩(wěn)定的數(shù)據(jù)源。許多準備安裝供應(yīng)鏈計劃軟件的CIO聲稱他們會首先安裝企業(yè)資源計劃軟件，他們稱企業(yè)資源計

10、劃項目為“建立舒適的信息儲藏室”。當(dāng)然，建立企業(yè)資源計劃系統(tǒng)花費昂貴并且非常困難，因此如果沒有首先安裝企業(yè)資源計劃軟件那就需要一條為供應(yīng)鏈計劃軟件提供所需數(shù)據(jù)的方法。</p><p>　　供應(yīng)鏈執(zhí)行軟件較少的依靠來自企業(yè)的各種集成信息，因此受企業(yè)資源計劃軟件的約束較少。但是在另一方面，供應(yīng)鏈執(zhí)行軟件必須能通過不同的方式與企業(yè)資源計劃軟件進行數(shù)據(jù)交換?，F(xiàn)在供應(yīng)鏈執(zhí)行軟件與互聯(lián)網(wǎng)、企業(yè)資源計劃軟件、供應(yīng)鏈計劃軟件的數(shù)

11、據(jù)交互能力顯得尤為重要。舉個例子，企業(yè)想建立一個聯(lián)接客戶和供應(yīng)商的WEB站點，就必須從SCE,SCP和ERP中提取最新的有關(guān)訂單、結(jié)算、制造狀況、配送等數(shù)據(jù)。</p><p>　　4．安裝供應(yīng)鏈管理軟件的目標是什么？</p><p>　　在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)時代到來之前，人們對供應(yīng)鏈軟件的期望被局限在提高企業(yè)預(yù)測客戶需求的能力和保證供應(yīng)鏈更平穩(wěn)的運行。但是隨著互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的普及，它事實上已成為公認的網(wǎng)際時代

12、數(shù)據(jù)交換的標準方式?，F(xiàn)在，理論上企業(yè)可以將自己的供應(yīng)鏈與客戶和供應(yīng)商的供應(yīng)鏈連結(jié)在一起，形成一個單一的、巨大的供應(yīng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)，進而優(yōu)化成本、發(fā)現(xiàn)機會：這在以前對每個企業(yè)來說都是非常棘手的。這也是B2B興起的重要原因：每一個與你發(fā)生商業(yè)行為的團體都能被連結(jié)在一起，形成一個合作互贏的大團體。</p><p>　　當(dāng)然，這些技術(shù)能夠帶來效益還需要一段時間。但是鑒于B2B只是經(jīng)過了短短幾年，在一些行業(yè)的應(yīng)用已經(jīng)取得了顯著的進步

13、，像快速消費品行業(yè)、高科技制造業(yè)、汽車制造業(yè)。當(dāng)你問及那些行業(yè)的領(lǐng)先者，他們期望在未來從供應(yīng)鏈中得到什么，他們所有的回答只有一個詞：可見性。多數(shù)行業(yè)的供應(yīng)鏈就像一場大的撲克牌游戲：玩家不會展示他的牌因為他不相信其他的任何游戲參與者，盡管如果他展示他手中的牌他肯定會受益。所以供應(yīng)商得去猜測有多少原材料會被訂購。制造商得去從供應(yīng)商那里訂購超過需求的原材料以確保如果有不確定的客戶需求的到來。零售商幾乎沒有缺貨,如果他肯讓制造商分享相關(guān)產(chǎn)品的銷

14、售信息?；ヂ?lián)網(wǎng)使企業(yè)展示手中的信息給其他企業(yè)成為可能，但是千百年來的不信任和缺乏平等機制使他變得非常困難。</p><p>　　5．什么是供應(yīng)鏈協(xié)同？</p><p>　　讓我們看一個快速消費品行業(yè)的協(xié)同案例：沃爾馬（Wal-Mart）和寶潔（Procter & Gamble）的供應(yīng)鏈協(xié)同。在上世紀八十年代兩家公司開始建立供應(yīng)鏈協(xié)同機制之前，零售商很少與制造商分享信息。但是兩個巨人

15、開發(fā)了一套軟件系統(tǒng)用以聯(lián)接寶潔和沃爾馬的配送中心，當(dāng)在沃爾馬配送中心的寶潔產(chǎn)品庫存下降到一定水平時，這個系統(tǒng)會發(fā)出一個自動的警報給寶潔，從而執(zhí)行一個補貨的動作。這個信息系統(tǒng)至始至終聯(lián)接著沃爾馬的所有商店，它讓寶潔可以監(jiān)控沃爾馬貨架上寶潔產(chǎn)品存量的變化。當(dāng)寶潔的某個品項存貨發(fā)生突然下降時，可以通過實時的衛(wèi)星鏈路將信息發(fā)送回工廠。</p><p>　　依靠這些實時的信息，寶潔知道應(yīng)該什么時候生產(chǎn)、出貨，在沃爾馬的商店

16、里陳列多少產(chǎn)品，不需要位置堆積如山的庫存來保證對沃爾馬的供貨，并且結(jié)算和發(fā)票處理業(yè)實現(xiàn)了自動化。這個系統(tǒng)幫助寶潔實現(xiàn)了時間的節(jié)約、庫存的降低和低的訂單處理成本，從而也實現(xiàn)了沃爾馬“天天低價”的目標。</p><p>　　思科系統(tǒng)(Cisco Systems),一家互聯(lián)網(wǎng)設(shè)備供應(yīng)商，也因為它的供應(yīng)鏈協(xié)同而出名。思科通過連接供應(yīng)商、集成商、契約制造商的增值網(wǎng)構(gòu)筑了一個虛擬的JIT(just-in-time)供應(yīng)鏈。當(dāng)

17、一個客戶訂購了思科的產(chǎn)品時，比如說客戶直接通過思科的WEB站點訂購了一臺路由器，這個訂單將會觸發(fā)一大堆信息給集成電路板的契約制造商。同時，集成商也得到路由器的加工信息：比如說為路由器安裝一個供電電源。思科的契約制造商有一些是從事路由器基座之類的零部件生產(chǎn)，還有一些是組裝成品，他們已經(jīng)知道都應(yīng)該為這臺路由器安裝哪些零件，安裝工序是什么，因為他們已經(jīng)通過思科的增值網(wǎng)連接著思科的制造執(zhí)行系統(tǒng)。</p><p>　　契約

18、制造商進入思科的增值網(wǎng)后，增值網(wǎng)會開始檢查契約制造商的生產(chǎn)線，確認哪條是合適于生產(chǎn)路由器的。生產(chǎn)廠會粘貼一個條碼給路由器，插進電線以模擬檢測它對各種不同網(wǎng)絡(luò)化境的適應(yīng)。完成之后對比它是否與客戶訂單符合。如果這些都檢查沒有問題，然后就要寫入思科的軟件系統(tǒng)，最后就可以出貨給客戶。</p><p>　　思科依靠這個強大的軟件程序來無論何時何地都可以監(jiān)控整個供應(yīng)鏈，并且不再有倉庫、存貨、紙質(zhì)發(fā)票。供應(yīng)鏈可以自動運行，如果

19、有問題出現(xiàn)，軟件會發(fā)出警報給管理人員來解決問題，修補錯誤。供應(yīng)鏈軟件管理員稱之為“管理例外”，如果沒有錯誤發(fā)生就不需要做什么事情。</p><p>　　如果說這個供應(yīng)鏈協(xié)同軟件有什么弱點，就是說他們沒有得到充分的檢驗,特別是在現(xiàn)在。思科的網(wǎng)絡(luò)被設(shè)計成用來支持企業(yè)的快速增長。 分布式的制造決策是非常好用的，如果決策能處理制造和銷售過程中的大部分事情。但是思科的網(wǎng)絡(luò)對于近來的經(jīng)濟波動幾乎完全沒有辦法適應(yīng)。當(dāng)客戶對思科

20、產(chǎn)品的需求飛速下降時，它要花費大量的時間來調(diào)整所有的流程以適應(yīng)復(fù)雜的供應(yīng)鏈，思科和它的供應(yīng)鏈伙伴也會受到大量過程庫存的欺騙，這也是大型高科技制造企業(yè)的通病。思科被迫更加關(guān)注它的供應(yīng)鏈計劃能力。</p><p>　　6．安裝供應(yīng)鏈軟件的障礙是什么？</p><p>　　1）得到你的供應(yīng)商和合作伙伴的信任</p><p>　　自動化供應(yīng)鏈之所以難以實現(xiàn)是因為它的復(fù)雜性已

21、經(jīng)超出了單個企業(yè)所能控制的范圍。企業(yè)員工需要改變工作方式，并且也需要把供應(yīng)商的員工納入自己的網(wǎng)絡(luò)。只有最大、最強有力的生產(chǎn)廠商才能使供應(yīng)商做出如此劇烈的轉(zhuǎn)變。許多企業(yè)將系統(tǒng)外包，而且安裝供應(yīng)鏈軟件的目標對供應(yīng)商也是一種威脅。例如，沃爾馬和寶潔的供應(yīng)鏈協(xié)同意味著寶潔對庫存管理要付出更多的責(zé)任，一些零售商傳統(tǒng)上自己管理庫存。沃爾馬有權(quán)利從寶潔得到自己需求的數(shù)量，寶結(jié)也從沃爾馬那里得到了有關(guān)沃爾馬產(chǎn)品需求的反饋信息，這幫助寶潔更有效率的生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)

22、品。為了讓你的合作伙伴答應(yīng)和你協(xié)同，企業(yè)家不得不自愿妥協(xié)并幫助供應(yīng)商實現(xiàn)他們的目標。</p><p>　　2）內(nèi)部反抗變革的阻力</p><p>　　既然在外部推行供應(yīng)鏈系統(tǒng)都比較困難，它在企業(yè)內(nèi)部的推行也好不到哪兒去。操作人員習(xí)慣于靠電話、傳真、紙質(zhì)單據(jù)來傳遞信息，并且期望能保留這種做法。除非你能使他們確信使用供應(yīng)鏈軟件之后能節(jié)約他們的時間減輕他們的工作負擔(dān)。而不是僅僅拆除電話和傳真機用

23、供應(yīng)鏈取代它們。</p><p>　　許多問題在起初供應(yīng)鏈軟件安裝時就會發(fā)生，對于讓員工接受供應(yīng)鏈軟件來說會有一連串麻煩的問題。新的供應(yīng)鏈軟件按照自身的邏輯來來處理數(shù)據(jù)，但是軟件在起初剛開始安置時不能完全適應(yīng)企業(yè)的流程。計劃員它們應(yīng)該懂得如何從系統(tǒng)中挖掘有用信息，否則它們就會認為供應(yīng)鏈系統(tǒng)是無用的。舉個例子，一個汽車工業(yè)供應(yīng)商剛剛安裝了供應(yīng)鏈計劃軟件來預(yù)測產(chǎn)品的需求之后，一個汽車制造商下達了一張罕有巨大數(shù)量的訂單

24、，由于沒有歷史數(shù)據(jù)，這個系統(tǒng)就會基于這張訂單預(yù)測市場對這種產(chǎn)品有巨大的需求。盲目的根據(jù)不確切的原材料訂單將會導(dǎo)致供應(yīng)商失去對供應(yīng)鏈的控制。企業(yè)發(fā)現(xiàn)了這個問題但是只能等到需求計劃員熟練的掌握系統(tǒng)之后。</p><p>　　其它可能產(chǎn)生的問題包括：需求計劃員產(chǎn)生對系統(tǒng)的不信任轉(zhuǎn)而依靠自己的經(jīng)驗預(yù)測。供應(yīng)商不得不自己對系統(tǒng)進行調(diào)整并為重新建立員工的信息而付出努力。一旦員工懂得需要用他們的經(jīng)驗和系統(tǒng)結(jié)合起來才能提高預(yù)測的

25、精確度，他們就會樂意接受新技術(shù)。</p><p>　　7．許多B2B交易軟件聲稱他們能提供供應(yīng)鏈軟件。我使用他們的還是安裝自己的？</p><p>　　公開的B2B交易和不公開的B2B交易都起源于線上拍賣這一形式，但很少有供應(yīng)商動心。從那時起，這些網(wǎng)站大多已經(jīng)演變成供應(yīng)鏈軟件的在線主機。對于沒有能力購買供應(yīng)鏈軟件的小公司來說，公眾的B2B交易軟件或許能提供它們所需要的資源。但是現(xiàn)在他們中的

26、大多數(shù)都還不成熟，用處不大。那些有實力建設(shè)私有B2B交易軟件與他們的貿(mào)易伙伴聯(lián)接的供應(yīng)還是希望自己建設(shè)而不是采用公眾B2B交易。但是最終這些公司最終還是會采用公眾的B2B交易，即使他們有能力建設(shè)私有B2B交易軟件，顯然自己建設(shè)和維護B2B交易軟件不是一個好辦法，因為一旦出了什么問題企業(yè)就需要自行處理。</p><p>　　野心勃勃的公眾B2B交易依靠它們的獨立和中立，希望能夠聚集更多的買家和供應(yīng)商在自己的平臺上。

27、但是一個公眾的B2B交易供應(yīng)鏈軟件在細節(jié)上從來也沒有達到企業(yè)建立的和少數(shù)供應(yīng)鏈聯(lián)接的私有B2B交易軟件的水平。因此，許多制造廠商說在日常的供應(yīng)鏈聯(lián)接中它們會使用公眾的B2B交易，但是在戰(zhàn)略層面還是會建立私有的供應(yīng)鏈交換平臺。</p><p><b>　　原文</b></p><p>　　Title: The ABCs of Supply Chain Managemen

28、t</p><p>　　Material Source: The ABCs of Supply Chain Management</p><p>　　Author: Christopher Koch</p><p>　　1.What is supply chain management?</p><p>　　Supply chain mana

29、gement is the combination of art and science that goes into improving the way your company finds the raw components it needs to make a product or service, manufactures that product or service and delivers it to customers

30、. The following are five basic components for supply chain management. </p><p>　　1）Plan-This is the strategic portion of supply chain management. You need a strategy for managing all the resources that go to

31、ward meeting customer demand for your product or service. A big piece of planning is developing a set of metrics to monitor the supply chain so that it is efficient, costs less and delivers high quality and value to cust

32、omers.</p><p>　　2）Source-Choose the suppliers that will deliver the goods and services you need to create your product or service. Develop a set of pricing, delivery and payment processes with suppliers and

33、create metrics for monitoring and improving the relationships. And put together processes for managing the inventory of goods and services you receive from suppliers, including receiving shipments, verifying them, transf

34、erring them to your manufacturing facilities and authorizing supplier payments.</p><p>　　3）Make-This is the manufacturing step. Schedule the activities necessary for production, testing, packaging and prepar

35、ation for delivery. As the most metric-intensive portion of the supply chain, measure quality levels, production output and worker productivity.</p><p>　　4）Deliver-This is the part that many insiders refer t

36、o as "logistics." Coordinate the receipt of orders from customers, develop a network of warehouses, pick carriers to get products to customers and set up an invoicing system to receive payments.</p><

37、p>　　5）Return-The problem part of the supply chain. Create a network for receiving defective and excess products back from customers and supporting customers who have problems with delivered products.</p><p&

38、gt;　　For a more detailed outline of these steps, check out the nonprofit Supply- CChain Council's website at www.supply-chain.org. </p><p>　　2.What does supply chain management software do?</p>&l

39、t;p>　　Supply chain management software is possibly the most fractured group of software applications on the planet. Each of the five major supply chain steps previously outlined composes dozens of specific tasks, many

40、 of which have their own specific software. There are some large vendors that have attempted to assemble many of these different chunks of software together under a single roof, but no one has a complete package. Integra

41、ting the different software pieces together can be a nightmare. Perha</p><p>　　Supply chain planning (SCP) software uses fancy math algorithms to help you improve the flow and efficiency of the supply chain

42、and reduce inventory. SCP is entirely dependent upon information for its accuracy. If you're a manufacturer of consumer packaged goods for example, don't expect your planning applications to be very accurate if y

43、ou can't feed them accurate, up-to-date information about customer orders from your retail customers, sales data from your retailer customers' stores, manufactu</p><p>　　Supply chain execution (SCE)

44、software is intended to automate the different steps of the supply chain. This could be as simple as electronically routing orders from your manufacturing plants to your suppliers for the stuff you need to make your prod

45、ucts. </p><p>　　For an expanded overview of this topic, read the Supply Chain Executive Summary. </p><p>　　3.Do I need to have ERP software before I install supply chain software?</p><

46、;p>　　This is a very controversial subject. You may need ERP if you plan to install SCP applications because they are reliant upon the kind of information that is stored in the most quantity inside ERP software. Theore

47、tically you could assemble the information you need to feed the SCP applications from legacy systems (for most companies this means Excel spreadsheets spread out all over the place), but it can be nightmarish to try to g

48、et that information flowing on a fast, reliable basis from all the a</p><p>　　SCE applications are less dependent upon gathering information from around the company, so they tend to be independent of the ERP

49、 decision. But chances are, you'll need to have the SCE applications communicate with ERP in some fashion. It's important to pay attention to SCE software's ability to integrate with the Internet and with ERP

50、 or SCP applications because the Internet will drive demand for integrated information. For example, if you want to build a private website for communicating with </p><p>　　4.What is the goal of installing s

51、upply chain management software?</p><p>　　Before the Internet came along, the aspirations of supply chain software devotees were limited to improving their ability to predict demand from customers and make t

52、heir own supply chains run more smoothly. But the cheap, ubiquitous nature of the Internet, along with its simple, universally accepted communication standards have thrown things wide open. Now, theoretically anyway, you

53、 can connect your supply chain with the supply chains of your suppliers and customers together in a single vast net</p><p>　　Of course, the reality behind this vision is that it will take years to come to fr

54、uition. But considering that B2B has only been around for a few years, some industries have already made great progress, most notably consumer-packaged goods (the companies that make products that go to supermarkets and

55、drug stores), high technology and autos.</p><p>　　When you ask the people on the front lines in these industries what they hope to gain from their supply chain efforts in the near term, they will all respond

56、 with a single word: visibility. The supply chain in most industries is like a big card game. The players don't want to show their cards because they don't trust anyone else with the information. But if they show

57、ed their hands they could all benefit. Suppliers wouldn't have to guess how much raw materials to order, and manufacturers wouldn't</p><p>　　5.What is supply chain collaboration?</p><p>

58、　　Let's look at consumer packaged goods as an example of collaboration. If there are two companies that have made supply chain a household word, they are Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble. Before these two companies

59、started collaborating back in the '80s, retailers shared very little information with manufacturers. But then the two giants built a software system that hooked P&G up to Wal-Mart's distribution centers. When

60、 P&G's products run low at the distribution centers, the system sends an automatic</p><p>　　With this kind of minute-to-minute information, P&G knows when to make, ship and display more products

61、at the Wal-Mart stores. No need to keep products piled up in warehouses awaiting Wal-Mart's call. Invoicing and payments happen automatically too. The system saves P&G so much in time, reduced inventory and lower

62、 order-processing costs that it can afford to give Wal-Mart "low, everyday prices" without putting itself out of business.</p><p>　　Cisco Systems, which makes equipment to hook up to the Internet,

63、is also famous for its supply chain collaboration. Cisco has a network of component suppliers, distributors and contract manufacturers that are linked through Cisco's extranet to form a virtual, just-in-time supply c

64、hain. When a customer orders a typical Cisco product-for example, a router that directs Internet traffic over a company network-through Cisco's website, the order triggers a flurry of messages to contract manufacture

65、rs </p><p>　　Soon after the contract manufacturers reach into Cisco's extranet, the extranet starts poking around the contractor's assembly line to make sure everything is kosher. Factory assemblers

66、slap a bar code on the router, scan it and plug in cables that simulate those of a typical corporate network. One of those cables is a fire hose for Cisco's automated testing software. It looks up the bar code, match

67、es it to a customer's order and then probes the nascent router to see if it has all the ports and </p><p>　　And there you have it. No warehouses, no inventory, no paper invoices, just a very nosy softwar

68、e program that monitors Cisco's supply chain automatically, in real-time, everywhere, simultaneously. The chain runs itself until there's a problem, in which case the system alerts some poor human to get off his

69、duff and fix something. Supply chain software junkies call this "management by exception." You don't need to do anything unless there is something wrong.</p><p>　　If there's a weakness to t

70、hese collaborative systems, it's that they haven't been tested in tough times-until recently. Cisco's network was designed to handle the company's huge growth. Distributed decision making is great if the

71、decisions have mostly to do with making and selling more things. But Cisco and its network were caught completely off guard by the recent tumble in the economy. It took awhile to turn all the spigots off in its complex n

72、etwork when demand for its products plummeted and </p><p>　　6.What are the roadblocks to installing supply chain software?</p><p>　　1）Gaining trust from your suppliers and partners.</p>&

73、lt;p>　　Supply chain automation is uniquely difficult because its complexity extends beyond your company's walls. Your people will need to change the way they work and so will the people from each supplier that you

74、 add to your network. Only the largest and most powerful manufacturers can force such radical changes down suppliers' throats. Most companies have to sell outsiders on the system. Moreover, your goals in installing t

75、he system may be threatening to those suppliers, to say the least. For example</p><p>　　2）Internal resistance to change.</p><p>　　If selling supply chain systems is difficult on the outside, it

76、isn't much easier inside. Operations people are accustomed to dealing with phone calls, faxes and hunches scrawled on paper, and will most likely want to keep it that way. If you can't convince people that using

77、the software will be worth their time, they will easily find ways to work around it. You cannot disconnect the telephones and fax machines just because you have supply chain software in place.</p><p>　　Many

78、mistakes at first. There is a diabolical twist to the quest for supply chain software acceptance among your employees. New supply chain systems process data as they are programmed to do, but the technology cannot absorb

79、a company's history and processes in the first few months after an implementation. Forecasters and planners need to understand that the first bits of information they get from a system might need some tweaking. If th

80、ey are not warned about the system's initial naiveté, they </p><p>　　That created another problem: Forecasters stopped trusting the system and worked strictly with their own data. The supplier had t

81、o fine-tune the system itself, then work on reestablishing employees' confidence. Once employees understood that they would be merging their expertise with the system's increasing accuracy, they began to accept a

82、nd use the new technology. </p><p>　　7.Many B2B exchanges say they offer supply chain software. Should I use their software or install my own?</p><p>　　Public (many-to-many) B2B exchanges and pr

83、ivate (you to everyone else in your supply chain) exchanges began with grand promises of auctions and procurement savings for members, but few suppliers were tempted. Since then, most of these websites have morphed into

84、becoming online hosts for supply chain software. For small companies that can't afford to buy the software on their own, the public exchanges will probably be their source. But for now many of the offerings are immat

85、ure and aren't getting</p><p>　　The ambitious public exchanges, with their independence and neutrality, hold out the hope of attracting more buyers and suppliers together in one place, but the level of s

86、pecificity of a public exchange's supply chain software will probably never reach the depth that a company could build with a select few suppliers in a private exchange. So most decision makers are saying they will u