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  • Essay / What is supply chain management? - 1485

    Introduction: With the advent of globalization and the continuous evolution of technology over the last 4 decades, the entire structure of organizations has evolved. Globalization has led to the downfall of once-thriving businesses that were stagnant, while leading to exponential growth of ever-changing businesses. Supply chain, which was once considered a small part of operations, has now become one of the most important departments. “The term supply chain management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion and all logistics management activities. .” as cited by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.[1]In today's competitive environment, to maximize customer loyalty while minimizing costs, companies are becoming extremely dependent on the efficiency of supply chain. In recent years, the supply chain has moved from treating each action as a separate unit to combining all actions, through systematic information sharing, to achieve maximum profit. The tedious and complex process of supply chain has benefited significantly from the introduction of information technology. [2] Some of the major challenges of an effective supply chain are inventory management, preventing stock-outs, and effectively sharing information between different departments, suppliers, and customers. Since its emergence in the 1900s, RFID has been implemented in the supply chain by major global players in varied industries such as Walmart in retail, Cognizent in IT and Gardeur AG in clothing.[3]RFID has been the most comprehensive introduction into the supply chain to overcome the problem. various shortcomings of barcode technology. Quoted by Omar Massoud Salim Hassan Ali in his...... middle of article......3/11/14/benefits-of-implementing-rfid-in-supply-chain-management.aspx > last consulted on 05/24/2014.[8] Research paper by Langer, Kekre and Scheller-Wolf, Topic: Evaluating the Impact of RFID on Return Center Logistics, [Online] URL < http://scheller.gatech.edu/directory/faculty/ forman/pubs/rfid-interfaces .pdf > Last accessed 05/24/2014[9] Research paper by Tim Butcher, Subject: The socio-technical impact of RFID on supply chain management, [ online] URL < http://www2.hull.ac.uk/ hubs/pdf/memorandum57.pdf > Last accessed 05/24/2014[10] Research paper written by Katina Michael and Luke McCathei, Subject: The advantages and disadvantages of RFID in supply chain management, [online] URL < http://ro .uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=infopapers > last accessed on 05/24/2014[11] Research paper by Sunita Mall and Sidharth Mishra, subject: RFID and supply chain management.