Today's fiercest business battles are taking place between competitors' supply chains, with victory dependent on finding a way to deliver products to customers faster, better, and cheaper than anyone else. For proof, just look to Dell and Amazon.com, both of which revolutionized their industries by changing how companies produce, distribute, and sell physical goods. But they're hardly alone. By revamping their supply chains, Siemens CT improved lead time from six month to two weeks, Gillette slashed $400 million of inventory, and Chrysler saved $1.7 billion a year - before, alas, letting its innovative vendor partnerships falter. It's a high-stakes game, and you don't have a lot of choice about playing; if your company touches a physical product, it's part of a supply chain. And your success ultimately hangs on the weakest link in that chain. In Supply Chains: A Manager's Guide, best-selling author David Taylor shows you how to assemble a killer supply chain using the knowledge, technology, and tools employed in supply-chain success stories. Using his signature fast-track summaries, graphics, and sidebars, Taylor offers a clear roadmap to understanding and solving the complex problems of supply-chain management. Modern manufacturing has driven down the time and cost of the production process, leaving supply chains as the final frontier for cost reduction and competitive advantage. Supply Chains: A Manager's Guide will quickly give managers the foundation they need to contribute effectively to their company's supply-chain success. During the past twenty years, companies have reduced the time and cost of the manufacturing process. Now, they are attempting to streamline their supply chains in the same way, but they are struggling with this initiative. This shift in focus is quickly changing the nature of business competition. The battle is no longer company vs. company, it's supply chain vs. supply chain. The formula for winning this new battle is assembling a killer supply chain -- the one that, like those of Dell and WalMart, will let them deliver products to their customers faster, better, and cheaper than anyone else. Written by best-selling author David A. Taylor, this is a guide to understanding and solving the complex problems of supply chain management. Using Taylor's signature fast-track summaries, graphics, sidebars, and additional content and exercises on the CD-ROM and Web site, readers will easily grasp the critical insights into this demanding subject, and walk away knowing just what they need to know in order to contribute effectively to their company's supply chain success. The author provides a high-level overview that shows how supply chain initiatives can contribute to overall business success. The guide helps you understand and learn to solve the complex problems presented by supply chain management and features tools and exercises. This is one of the best overviews of the supply chain I have ever read. If you are lookig to gain an understanding of supply chain issues and terms, this is the book for you.
