Using Visibility to Manage Supply Chain Uncertainty
Michael Bittner - November 9, 2005

Background

Leonardo da Vinci was once quoted as saying, "Art is difficult to replicate, and unpredictable in its application, other than by Mother Nature". This explains why there are so few Stradivarius violins on the market. Yet today, contemporary art is easy to replicate by using modern duplicating technology. However, in the case of modern manufacturing, "art" has mostly been replaced with statistical measurement and process control. For this reason, supply chain processes require the same kind of structured views to monitor, measure, and analyze activities within the modern supply chain that manufacturing entails to mass produce. Supply chain management (SCM) is the art and science of managing uncertainty. Supply chain visibility (SCV) provides the event level data and information required to make the concept of process control for the supply chain a reality...