Supply chain management is one of the most important strategic aspects of any business enterprise. Decisions must be made about how to coordinate the production of goods and services, how and where to store inventory, whom to buy materials from and how to distribute them in the most cost-effective, timely manner.
Figure 1
Consider a typical manufacturer. The supply chain is made up of many interrelated firms (Figure 1). There are parts suppliers, component suppliers and subassembly suppliers.…
