| A | It's difficult to say exactly how this should be done without knowing your company's line of business, strategic priorities, challenges, etc. However, if you are in business now, you probably have supply chain management activities under way. Before you set up a division, you need to know what you need it to do. So first, you need to benchmark where your processes and performance stand with your customers and suppliers. This exercise will lead you to document process flow, and understand how to better design and optimize those processes to improve performance. Once you know what you need to do, then you must determine what personnel, equipment or technology are required to make it happen. In my view, a Supply Chain Management (SCM) division should be considered a horizontal entity, considering that its ultimate goal is to have the whole company participate in and be responsible for SCM processes. So, the SCM team should include strong management, business process and change management personnel who can coordinate and optimize interaction between internal divisions that drive supply chain functions (design, procurement, distribution, warehouse, finance, IT), and their external customers. One final note: If SCM is a critical aspect of your company's business, the person who heads this group I describe should be part of the executive staff and NOT report into some other vertical function. |