Increasing market requirements and rising competition levels force enterprises to make changes that lead to shorter response times to customer needs. To meet customer requirements and thus demonstrate a competitive advantage in a given market, enterprises must produce a wide range of high-quality products and deliver them according to orders, ensuring a high level of customer service. The starting point is therefore the construction of a strategy based on core competencies, and as practice proves, logistics can become such a distinguishing competency.
A market-oriented enterprise strategy imposes the need to properly shape the internal supply chain, taking into account the basic technical-organizational, economic, and social features of production. It should also be kept in mind that technological processes and logistics processes are closely linked, and in some cases, even integrated.
The internal supply chain can be defined as ordered production phases composed of technological, control, transport, and storage operations, linked by material, energy, and information flows that enable such a flow of materials and semi-finished products through workstations that it is possible to obtain the finished product.
Rules for the rational shaping of the internal supply chain
In modeling the internal supply chain, the following rules resulting from economic practice can be used:
1. The degree of utilization of an integrated logistics approach to managing physical and information flows in an enterprise is conditioned by the type of production process. Specific solutions are determined by the technology and organization of the production process used, which has a significant impact on the possibility of using modern logistics tools.
2. The type and form of production organization determine the size and structure of material flows. In turn, the degree of complexity of logistics processes depends on:
• the type of production processes and technologies used
• the diversity of production operations
• the diversity of material supplies
• the diversity of finished products. These factors are interrelated.
• the type of production processes and technologies used
• the diversity of production operations
• the diversity of material supplies
• the diversity of finished products. These factors are interrelated.
3. Flows of materials, semi-finished products, and products should be considered and examined from a systemic perspective. This allows for a comprehensive consideration of logistical system dependencies, as, for example, order fulfillment, transport processes, storage, etc., are not described separately, but rather their interaction in the realization of material flow.
4. The shaping of material streams should be based on considering the entire chain of processes, and the location of transshipment, storage, and production sites must be subordinated to the principle of production continuity.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 2002/6.