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Supply Chain
A supply chain is a network that connects a company to its suppliers, vendors, and customers. In a supply chain, the company is connected to suppliers that provide the necessary parts or components to manufacture a product. Once the product is finished, the company is then able to sell the product to its customers. In IT terms, a supply chain connects and optimizes the sales of necessary computer components to manufacturers so they can create products—and then connects the company to consumers so they can purchase those products. Today’s supply chain systems are managed by software technology that streamlines the collaboration among retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, and customers.
What Small and Midsize Businesses Need to Know About Supply Chain
Essentially, a supply chain involves the entire development-to-doorstep process, from manufacturing a product to its eventual delivery to the customer. Many small businesses invest in software that’s specially designed to provide supply chain management solutions for their specific industries.
Related terms
- Procurement
- Bill of Materials (BOM)
- Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)
- Smart Factory
- Strategic Sourcing
- Value-Added Reseller (VAR)
- Telematics
- Supply Chain
- Vendor
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
- Supply Chain Planning (SCP)
- Scanner
- SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition)
- Total Quality Management (TQM)
- Vendor Management
- Senpai
- Radio-frequency Identification (RFID)
- Loopback
- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
- Electro Mobility (e-Mobility)
