Ask the Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) Expert: Scheduling Assistance
 Asked on Jun 10 2006 9:31:52:000PM | Q | What does Supply Chain Synthesis (SCS) mean? How has the Synthesis evolved from SCM to SC Integration to SC Synthesis? What is today's business need for SCS? Bhaaminy Subramaniam, Sri Lanka |
| A | To be perfectly honest, I am not altogether knowledgeable about the concept of "Supply Chain Synthesis." That said, I am familiar with the Six Levels of Supply Chain Excellence, which is proffered by the consultancy, Tompkins Associates Inc. These levels, published in an article in Supply & Demand Chain Executive (April/May 2005) in their view, are as follows:- Level 1: Business as Usual
- Level 2: Link Excellence
- Level 3: Visibility
- Level 4: Collaboration
- Level 5: Synthesis
- Level 6: Velocity
According to Tompkins, Level 5, Synthesis, means that you will have achieved the synchronization of new insights and strategies to achieve greater cost reduction and a higher level of customer satisfaction. So, "synthesis" would be well within the definition and objectives of business process re-engineering and supply chain management. In short, it's another way of looking at how to use best practices to manage your supply chain. Based on our research here at Industry Directions, we have found that most companies are struggling to get somewhere between what is above described as Level 2 and Level 3. So, unless you happen to have synchronized, multi-tier visibility throughout your value network and all your extended operations are operating very well, you can't expect to achieve synthesis. Most companies need to work on their network visibility and collaboration quite a bit before synthesis is a real possibility. To read more about this, you can also go to the Tompkins web site. |
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