OLYMPUS TECHNOZONE Vol.51 2001-09
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INDEX
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SCM
as a Business Mechanism for Responding Flexibly to the Trends
of the Times
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Schematic Image of the SCM
(Click
on image to expand it) |
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----What exactly is SCM?
We understand supply chain management to be
nothing but the key mechanism of business. It's probably been in
the last two or three years that we've begun to hear of a lot of
cases where SCM was introduced. As a manufacturer, we envision
a supply chain with a linked structure that enhances the overall
efficiency of the integrated system from manufacturing through
sales. By "supply chain management" we mean the process
of optimization to cope flexibly with the changing world. US companies
took on SCM as a means of promoting the further evolution of the
system using IT.
Since Olympus is a manufacturer, the process of buying in
materials, making products, marketing and selling them, and dealing with customers
is one of the key functions of our business.
That being said, each individual function within that process
is required to pursue the best methods within its own area of responsibility.
Yet, even if each individual approach is excellent in itself, whether it is right
for the overall system is a separate issue. If a manufacturer makes what it wants
to make and its salespersons sell what they want to sell, it will be impossible
for the company to follow comprehensive management practices whereby it makes
products based on the actual market needs. This can lead to a situation where
it does not make things that should be made, or fails to make things even though
there is demand for them. It creates situations where inventories get too big,
or are short. Situations like this affect any management to a greater or lesser
extent, but SCM represents an attempt to maximize business opportunities by dynamically
linking individual functions. I believe it will eventually constitute an essential
foundation for enabling in-company systems to function with maximum efficiency
by providing an overview of what to manufacture, in what quantities and when,
how best to deliver the products to customers, and what to do about new services
going forward. |
