In 2008 by the IBM Institute for Business Value and the "Economist" Intelligence Agency conducted jointly with "future business" as the theme of "Global CEO survey", CEO had expressed its "global integration" trend consensus. They believe that the future of business should continue to be integrated in order to take full advantage of the advantages of the global economy, its business strategic objectives is to obtain the best around the world the ability, knowledge and assets, and applies them to the needs of the world's relevant to any place.
Excellent integration with which the concept of Zhou's proposal is not only applicable to the conduct of multinational operations that mature companies. For there is no global efforts for globalization, or is still, even still to carry out a wide range of regional or nationwide operations of Indian enterprises, this way of thinking, to help them reflect on their own in the global value of the existing role and future the possible location, and even they can be "integrated" strategies and tools to apply to domestic operations in the first years, from breaking the national status of the regional branch princes lined the beginning, first as "the integration of domestic companies," obtained by integrating the change strengths and abilities, but also be able to more efficiently serve its global customers, has also benefited from global integration.
Starts supply chain integration
For any awareness of global integration is an urgent need for companies, they are all from a global supply chain integrator began. Now the competition between the companies is no longer simply regarded as the two companies compete, and more being regarded as the two company’s battle between the supply chain.
Rudiments of supply chain management first appeared in the late 70s of last century, when the Philips company in order to break the manufacturing, marketing, channel, sales, and financial and other barriers between the different functions, on the establishment of a corresponding sector, in order to reduce inventory while improving customer service quality. Because it is better management of inventory based on the idea put forward by the earliest time, it is known as the "integrated inventory management" (Integrated Inventory Management), then, in order to better express the company hopes to supply chain management, so that It became a whole, rather than a separate department. Therefore, it will be renamed as the "comprehensive supply chain management" (Total supply chain management)
Interestingly, at that time known as the "comprehensive supply chain management" in a very narrow, primarily within the company get through the circulation of the chain, so that the manufacture, sales, finance, marketing, operations of these departments can be the focus of the movement to ensure that the final product and availability on.
Initially, supply chain management is to solve internal conflicts between different functions, which leads to the configuration of inventory and capacity of the problem of irrational; but today, supply chain management is to manage the company's business units or departments as well as between the Company between the internal conflict caused by the ability to configure an unreasonable risk.
Although the scope of supply chain management continues to expand, but its core philosophy has always been to break any obstruction product (now also extended to the service) "circulation" of the barrier (from the past, the functions of an island within the organization to the enterprise formed by the border fence ), to develop a coordinated "supply chain." Now, with the increasing business complexity, supply chain management has become one with the strategic procurement and allow suppliers to participate in product development process. Therefore, the enterprise's supply chain management requires two basic elements: information systems and a good network of partnerships.
First, in the IT level, the company needed an advanced supply chain, customer relationship management system to provide very detailed data, describing the possibility of each sales opportunity; more importantly, it can reflect the current progress of the transaction is being at what stage in the sales process, as well as when the sales staff want to complete the transaction. System provides these data to help companies more accurately predicted to reduce inventory risk, while ensuring a timely response to customer demand for speed.
However, in addition to the technical, business partners need to maintain good relations and establish a consensus, both sides understand that in order to better serve the end-user - "We are a team." Compared to OEM manufacturers and suppliers who work with the system, "game" of being able to provide suppliers with more accurate forecasts, but also a very competitive advantage.
Now, the quality requirements of consumers have become increasingly high, as Janet Colmen chairman said: "Consumers will no longer be limited to the definition of quality of product entity - it will be extended to the product is how to production, including production processes, safety, productivity, environmental and social impact of a number of factors. "This requires, enterprises must not only within the enterprise to understand the flow of products, but also to the source from the product (the original raw materials) to the final sent to reach the hands of consumers at all stages of the case can fingertips.
In the supply chain integration, many companies are often afraid to take the first step, because it requires a thorough reconstruction of the supply chain. Companies often cite a host of reasons to illustrate the need to change, but for those that produce the wide variety of products, and growth of the company's growing need for access to multiple resources to support, they began to feel the supply chain integration of global integration or even an important and necessary.
The value of integrated supply chain
In the past few years, many large companies have set up a special unit for supply chain management executive positions, or improving the level of the original post. For example, Lucent, Heinz, and Chevron are in COO, CFO, and IIO in addition, the appointment of the Chief Procurement Officer (chief procurement office, the CPO). There are some companies will do the job to set the broader scope of responsibilities, such as DuPont executives in charge of the business, the title is "vice president - global sourcing, logistics, and chief procurement officer," while IBM is responsible for the appointment of a Integrated Supply Chain, "senior vice president," they feel about the job description is in the IBM internal, mainly "end to end supply chain operations, specifically including procurement, systems manufacturing, logistics and customer fulfillment processes." Taking into account of managing a global supply chain system cost and complexity of such an appointment is not surprising. According to International Data Corporation survey, the global supply chain management for the IT investment of up to approximately 20 billion U.S. dollars a year.
As the first step towards a global integrated business transformation, IBM is one of the first changes to the supply chain. Since IBM is still the production servers, and mainframes in the world to a number of manufacturing base, so the supply chain, including the world's manufacturing and parts procurement, fully outsourced global logistics, customer fulfillment, order processing, inventory management and accounts systems, and shipment tracking all activities. Of a more than 160 countries and regions in the world operate, has numerous product lines and dozens of independent business units for companies that carry out the integration of its complexity and difficulty of the imagination far more than other companies.
IBM has more than 300 procurement centers, and each one is separate from each other by a different person in charge of procurement leadership, were all regarded as necessary cost centers. Today, IBM integrated supply chain, is a core strategic business units, touching all levels of company operations, saving a lot of costs, the company value creation, innovation and source of competitive advantage.
IBM's supply chain transformation was first started in 1993, by 2003, IBM will be the global supply chain operations as a separate business unit is its supply chain, an important milestone in the integration process.
Seems to be overnight, this sector should co-ordinate the arrangements for IBM at that time more than 160 countries and regions worldwide, more than 30 million employees, up to 450 billion dollars in spending. In 2004, through the supply chain integration, IBM has created over the past 30 years, the lowest inventory levels, while inventory turnover rate has increased substantially.
For supply chain integration, we must first understand is that not all of the work done everything myself, so IBM very early attempt to logistics outsourcing, this initiative has saved the company billions of dollars in total costs. Since IBM no longer has its own warehouse of those storage hardware, or the goods transport trucks, which also allow the company's operations have greater flexibility to fluctuations in the market very well to make a timely response.
Rational allocation of resources and capabilities of supply chain integration of the second element. In 2006, IBM moved its global procurement center in Shenzhen, this, Zhou explained that the procurement centers close to the suppliers, is the most reasonable arrangement. At the same time, to meet the global supply chain model designed to meet the localization requirements often require the design and conduct of localization-related research to meet key customers, the core area requirements. However, in the new IBM supply chain, but not fully sense of the word "localization products." For example, Dublin, Ireland, factory IBM products are sold throughout the world. Similarly, distributed in different parts of the world's customer service center and their antennae are not limited to specific regions or brand. David, vice president of IBM Asia-Pacific region where the production of the Greek explained: "Customer Service Centers by which by their own region, language, and other factors determined, now available through IBM in the global IT service delivery centers around the establishment of collaboration has been able to provide the world customers 7 days 24 hours non-stop service. "
In the supply chain integration, a prominent advantage is to break the boundaries, the reduction of duplication of effort. In the past, service supply chain, all teams are just too busy at its disposal, no matter where the host team or the manufacturer is responsible for its storage business team. In fact, the high-end mainframe storage and have many similar features, but never had to share resources, as responsible for their own product line team had not conducted any such communication and interaction. Now, these teams can get together to learn from each other. Therefore, these team members can develop a common framework for planning of a number of solutions can be reused to replace the past that a one-time programs.
Along with the entire supply chain has a higher reliability and consistency, such as ordering from the sales team to develop a timetable, or the billing and some other time-consuming and troublesome affairs freed, allowing more time to improve sales performance. By the performance of services for clients in many activities under the contract on the supply chain, for the sales team provides a strong back-up support to enable them to become the company has created an important source of productivity.
In the supply chain integration, it is necessary to ensure that the supply chain truly become an important strategic components of business, it is necessary to ensure that it can play a synergistic role of different functions. Therefore, IBM through the management and organizational change, the design of new measurement system in order to capture the key cross-functional quantitative data, supplier and partner relationships qualitative analysis. To ensure that the different functions that they have not been fooled by their own internal targets, which means that should give top priority to shareholder and customer value, to focus on the end of the process, rather than as much as possible to optimize its supply chain in that part. Of course, this does not mean completely abandoning the individual indicators, but rather to add some common goals with the entire supply chain, related to the new target, and now IBM in several aspects in an integrated manner to measure supply chain performance: customer satisfaction, cost reduction, resulting in cash flow and shareholder value.
More importantly, IBM has started a culture accustomed to from the perspective of global integration to consider the issue. For IBM, a huge challenge in fact from a company-wide diversity of cultural influences, how to get rid of these cultural isolation, for huge companies like IBM, is not easy.
Integrated supply chain's most innovative product, that is, the principles of supply chain management applied to other aspects of IBM. The use of the supply chain, inventory tracking and allocation methods to reasonably in the company to track and allocate human resources and expertise, is a typical example. This method is through the IBM Company of experts and consultants as IBM's talent and technology stocks, according to the specific customer's needs and availability to carry out the arrangements and scheduling. For example, a customer needs a smattering of French and Russian experts in Linux, while also have the experience in the retail supply chain, to Moscow after three months treatment related business, then the staff responsible for this project can be like a query inventory, as in IBM's consultants and experts in the system database to find the right experts.
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