INTRODUCTION

1. Introduction

   Supply chain management takes into consideration every facilities that has in impact on cost and plays a role in making a product to customer requirement. As we know, supply chain management revolves around efficient integration of suppliers, manufacturers, warehouse and stores, it encompasses the firm activities at many level from strategics level to operational level. So, there is several important activities includes determining:

   
   

   
   

   1. Transportation vendors
   2. Credit and cash transfers
   3. Suppliers
   4. Distributors
   5. Accounts payable and receivable
   6. Warehousing and inventory
   7. Order fulfillment
   8. Sharing customer, forecasting, and production information

   
   

   The concept of Supply Chain Management (SCM) is based on two core ideas. The first is that practically every product that reaches an end user represents the cumulative effort of multiple organizations. These organizations are referred to collectively as the supply chain. The second idea is that while supply chains have existed for a long time, most organizations have only paid attention to what was happening within "four walls." A few businesses understood, much less managed, the entire chain of activities that ultimately delivered products to the final customer. The result was disjointed and often ineffective supply chains. Supply chain management, then, is the active management of supply chain activities to maximize customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. It represents a conscious effort by supply chain firms to develop and run supply chains in the most effective and efficient ways possible. Supply chain activities cover everything from product development, sourcing, production and logistics as well as the information systems needed to coordinate these activities. The organizations that make up the supply chain are "linked" together through physical flows and information flows. Physical flows involve the transformation, movement and storage of goods and materials. They are the most visible piece of the supply chain. but it just as important are information flows. Information flows allow the various supply chain partners to coordinate their long-term plans and to control the day-to-day flow of goods and material up and down the supply chain.