Information enrichment: designing the supply chain for competitive advantage

Speed of response to customer demand has long been recognized as a key attribute to business success since customer loyalty can be won or lost on product availability. With everyone implementing lean manufacturing philosophies, companies additionally need to become smart chain managers and ensure continuous improvement to stay competitive. Exploits further the concept of the “seamless supply chain”, by encouraging market place information to move through the supply chain with as little distortion as possible. The simulation model used to benchmark performance improvement is representative of both the MIT beer game and much experimental industrial practice. It is therefore realistic as an aid to the implementation of decision support systems (DSS). Presents the beneficial dynamic effects of enriching each supply chain member’s order decision with undistorted market sales. Concludes that tremendous benefits can result from adopting a holistic approach if the attitudinal problems associated with information sharing can be overcome.