• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Q&A | What Is End-to-End Supply Chain Integration?

Q&A | What Is End-to-End Supply Chain Integration?

December 19, 2018
Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

A new research paper from the Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee investigates the progress of companies toward achieving end-to-end supply-chain integration. Director Michael Burnette explains.

Q: What was the genesis of this research paper on best practices in end-to-end supply-chain integration?

Burnette: We interface with hundreds of companies a year, and what we found was that there are six end-to-end supply chain strategies that benchmark companies are using today. They’ve graduated from Lean, Six Sigma and TPM [Total Productive Maintenance]. One of those six is end-to-end supply chain integration.

Q: When we say end-to-end, do we really mean it?

Burnette: It’s very difficult. We interviewed 16 companies that we consider benchmark, and of those 16, there were just three or four that were truly end-to-end focused, from the tier three supplier all the way to consumption.

Q: What goes into an end-to-end supply-chain integration strategy?

Burnette: It involves a lot of work. You have to map the entire supply chain. A large global company might have 50 supply chains operating in that many categories. If you just map part of it, it doesn't work.

I'll use an example of a tier one supplier. Let's say it’s making a bottle. You have a manufacturing unit that's going to fill that bottle. You have the activity note for producing the bottle, transportation to the manufacturer, and the activity note for manufacturing. The best of the best are looking at the supply-chain map on multiple levels. If the supplier is on a throughput strategy and the manufacturer is on a responsiveness strategy, you have no integration.

At the activity level, you have materials, manufacturing, people, information and decision-making. On the materials front, if the supplier is using material specs to plus or minus one percent, and the manufacturer needs it to be plus or minus a tenth of a percent, there’s no integration. You’re going to have waste in the supply system.

When it comes to people, if you don't have adequate talk and communication, that's a problem. And the biggest form of lack of integration is in decision-making and data. Most supply-chain executives don’t make decisions based on the end-to-end supply chain. If you put a percentage of your product on hold, and only a portion of your supply chain responds, then you’re going to have waste.

Q: Once you’ve uncovered a lack of integration in a complex supply chain, what do you do to integrate it?

Burnette: You’re going to have to prioritize. Top companies have found the process of mapping the supply chain and understanding where they were integrated to be extremely information. Most of the opportunity to drive supply-chain results is in the design stage. Many of these supply chains were designed 40 or 50 years ago, when the biggest customer wasn’t Amazon.

Q: So what new strategies are needed?

Burnette: We found eight best practices. Mapping the supply chain seems relatively simple, although it takes a lot of work and leadership commitment. Number two is simplifying, streamlining, and integrating. We found one company that had 18 different material specs for glycerin. They needed two. The third best practice is talent. You have to think about how it all fits together.

Q: What role does technology play in helping to achieve integration?

Burnette: It’s a huge role. There are software programs and information systems that can help with mapping the supply chain. They can measure time and reliability — the things that drive quality and value. You also need analytics to analyze the huge amount of data that’s available.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain) Supply Chain Planning & Optimization Supply Chain Visibility Business Strategy Alignment Global Supply Chain Management
KEYWORDS Big Data/IOT Business Strategy Alignment Global Supply Chain Management SC Planning & Optimization Supply Chain Analysis & Consulting Supply Chain Visibility
  • Related Articles

    Q&A | How the Platform Enables End-to-End Supply Chains

    Why End-to-End Visibility Is a Supply Chain Imperative (And How to Get It)

    Proud of Your 90-Percent Operational Efficiency? What About Your End-to-End Supply Chain?

Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

New CBP Regs Call for Greater Diligence by Brokers in Reporting Security Breaches

More from this author

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • A PERSON HOLDS UP A TABLET COMPUTER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPER-IMPOSED BY A GRAPHIC SHOWING A COMPLEX WEB OF SUPPLY CHAIN ELEMENTS

    Three Post-Pandemic Actions for Repairing Global Supply Chains

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A MAN IN A SUIT SHAKES HANDS WITH A WOMAN IN A HARD HAT, NEXT TO A STACK OF CONTAINERS

    Three Procurement Technology Evolutions for 2023

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • DOCUMENTS BEARING THE INSIGNIA OF US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION LIE ON A TABLE

    New CBP Regs Call for Greater Diligence by Brokers in Reporting Security Breaches

    Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
  • The blank stare of a child's eye who is standing behind what appears to be a wooden frame

    The Alarming Continued Rise of Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: How Procurement Can Help Reverse the Trend

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • A GROUP OF WORKERS RANGED IN AN OFFICE, OF DIVERSE RACE, GENDER, AGE AND PHYSICAL ABILITY

    Podcast | The Supply Chain Workforce of the Future Is Already Here

    HR & Labor Management

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing