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IRELAND SPECIAL Information Technology
The Utilization of Information
Technology for Supply Chain
Management in Ireland
The traditional concern of supply chain management
has been the movement of materials from original
source to the point of final consumption.
The traditional concern of supply chain
management has been the movement
of materials from original source to
the point of final consumption. In addition to
the downstream flow of materials, modern
supply chain management is also concerned
with other flows such as the upstream flow
of reverse logistics and the flow of funds
through the supply chain. Supply chain
management seeks to carry out supply
chain activities in an efficient and effective
manner. In order to do so, organisations
must recognise the need to streamline not
only their internal processes but also the
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processes that link to their trading partners.
Collaboration among supply chain
partners enables the supply chain to better
meet the needs of the final customer.
Collaborative practices act to make the
supply chain more competitive by reducing
costs and adding extra value thereby
increasing the profitability of the supply chain
participants. Collaboration is seen in practice
in a number of approaches to supply chain
management. Vendor managed inventory
(VMI), collaborative planning forecasting
and replenishment (CPFR) just-in-time (JIT)
and efficient customer response (ECR) are
Liam Doyle
some of approaches to collaboration that
have brought benefits to supply chains in a
number of industries. There has also been
an increasing awareness of the need to
adopt an appropriate approach to supply
chain strategy. Companies have adopted
lean or agile approaches, or an appropriate
combination of both, to support their supply
chain strategy. In many cases companies
have moved from the traditional push based
model, where goods are produced in the
hope the hope that demand will arise, to the
pull based model where goods are produced
in response to demand.
Regardless of the supply chain strategy
adopted or the supply chain practices
employed, the efficient and effective
operation of supply chains requires the
sharing of information. Pull based models
require the sharing of demand information
among supply chain participants. Push
based models require the sharing of
forecasts. Collaborative approaches require
information such as demand and stock
levels to be shared.
The requirement for sharing of
information requires the flow of information