Supply Chain Engineering

18 Jun 2015

1. Definition of Supply Chain Engineering by Alexandre Dolgui and Jean Marie Proth (2010)

Supply Chain Engineering is an emerging field based on analysis and comprehension of essential principles of production and distribution systems. This scientific domain concerns the methodical evaluation and optimization of production systems, logistics networks, and their management policies to increase the effectiveness of multifaceted demand and supply chains. Worldwide competition has grown ever stronger since the beginning of the eighties.

The pressure of the competitive global market has intensely affected the production systems, calling for:

  • Integration of the activities that cover the whole production spectrum from customers? requirements to payment.
  • Flexibility in face of customer demand changes.
  • Drastic reduction of production costs.

In order to reach these objectives, radical changesmust be introduced in production systems, through new manufacturing technologies that increase efficiency and IT technologies that improve system organization and management.

2. Definition of Supply Chain Engineering by Wikipedia:

Supply Chain Engineering(SCE) describes a method for the conceptual construction and realization of logistic and product orientedsupply chainswithin a company and beyond its borders. According to SCE the focus should not be limited to optimizing the parts of supply chain for effective and efficient functioning, but the completevalue chain needs to be considered in a holistic fashion to yield the desiredefficiencyandeffectiveness. The most essential ingredient of SCE is its integral view embodying

  • Local Customization
  • Engineering
  • Information Technology

The engineering character is not only visible in the SCE?s content but also in its name. As SCE is still a very young method only few standard works have been published so far. The following definition therefore mainly refers to the standard work, ?Supply Chain Engineering ? methods of integrated logistics planning?, published in July 2010 by Dr. Joachim Miebach and Dominik Bhring. Herein SCE is defined as an independent and overall method to design supply chains.