Keith Oliver | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Occupation | logistician |
| Years active | 1982–present |
Keith Oliver is a British logistician and consultant known for coining the term "Supply Chain Management", [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] first using it in public in an interview with Arnold Kransdorff, then working for the Financial Times, on 4 June 1982. [7]
Keith Oliver was educated in the United Kingdom at Monmouth School and Birmingham University.
He is currently on the staff of the management consulting firms Booz & Company / Booz Allen Hamilton, and worked previously as Senior Organisations and Methods Analyst at the West Midlands Gas Board, and then as a consultant for Business Operations Research (Systems) Limited.
According to Damon Schechter, Oliver played a critical role in ushering in the third significant evolution of logistical thought in the 1970s and 1980s [8] and has contributed as author and co-author of numerous articles [9] [10] [11] and the chapter entitled "Distribution: the total cost-to serve" in The Gower Handbook of Management (1983 - 1998). [12]
A 2003 article in a Strategy+Business issue named When Will Supply Chain Management Grow Up? by Tim Laseter and Keith Oliver himself [13] describes anecdotically the moment in which the term Supply Chain Management was coined prior to the Financial Times interview: Oliver began to develop a vision to tear down the functional silos inside an organization (manufacturing, marketing, distribution, sales and finance). He and his team called it Integrated Inventory Management, abbreviated I2M in the late 70's. They believed that the term was catchy and the I2M acronym would be well received, but it all changed during a key steering committee meeting with Dutch electronics giant Philips. At the meeting, he and his team found out that their catchy phrase was not that catchy, and Oliver was challenged by one of the customer's managers, Mr. Van t'Hoff. Oliver explained Mr. Van t'Hoff what he meant by I2M: “We’re talking about the management of a chain of supply as though it were a single entity,” Mr. Oliver replied, “not a group of disparate functions.” “Then why don’t you call it that?” Mr. Van t’Hoff said. “Call it what?” Mr. Oliver asked. “Total supply chain management.”
Scott Stephens, former Chair of the Supply-Chain Council (SCC) (1983–1997) and former Chief Technology Officer of the SCC (1997–2005), [14] states in his blog that after knowing the story, he was not really sure if it was Keith Oliver or Mr. Van t'Hoff who coined the term. But as Oliver developed the concept prior to the meeting and used it first in public during the Financial Times interview, gives credit to Oliver's story to be the Ring of Truth. [15]
Oliver defined in 1982 the Supply Chain concept as follows: “Supply chain management (SCM) is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the operations of the supply chain with the purpose to satisfy customer requirements as efficiently as possible. Supply chain management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point-of-origin to point-of-consumption”. [16] Since then, almost all Supply Chain Book authors have developed their own definitions. Some of them are subtle variations and others add more detail, but most of them remain close to Oliver's original definition.
Keith Oliver was highlighted and often cited in articles and books during the 2002-2003 period due to the fact that the Supply Chain Management term reached its "adulthood" with 21 years. The term's "adulthood" was an opportunity for some publications to reflect about the concept's evolution over 21 years. [17] A similar effect was experienced in 2012 due to the term's 30th anniversary, although critics argue that the celebration was being used mostly for some firms' marketing strategies. [18] [19]
In commerce, supply chain management (SCM) deals with a system of procurement, operations management, logistics and marketing channels, through which raw materials can be developed into finished products and delivered to their end customers. A more narrow definition of supply chain management is the "design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronising supply with demand and measuring performance globally". This can include the movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, finished goods, and end to end order fulfilment from the point of origin to the point of consumption. Interconnected, interrelated or interlinked networks, channels and node businesses combine in the provision of products and services required by end customers in a supply chain.
Marketing is the act of satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of business management and commerce.
Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption according to the needs of customers. Logistics management is a component that holds the supply chain together. The resources managed in logistics may include tangible goods such as materials, equipment, and supplies, as well as food and other consumable items.
A supply chain, sometimes expressed as a "supply-chain", is a complex logistics system that consists of facilities that convert raw materials into finished products and distribute them to end consumers or end customers. Meanwhile, supply chain management deals with the flow of goods within the supply chain in the most efficient manner.
In sales, commerce and economics, a customer is the recipient of a good, service, product or an idea, obtained from a seller, vendor or supplier via a financial transaction or an exchange for money or some other valuable consideration.
Distribution is the process of making a product or service available for the consumer or business user who needs it, and a distributor is a business involved in the distribution stage of the value chain. Distribution can be done directly by the producer or service provider or by using indirect channels with distributors or intermediaries. Distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix: the other three elements being product, pricing, and promotion.
Procurement is the process of locating and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. The term may also refer to a contractual obligation to "procure", i.e. to "ensure" that something is done. When a government agency buys goods or services through this practice, it is referred to as government procurement or public procurement.
The Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) is a not-for-profit international educational organization offering certification programs, training tools, and networking opportunities to increase workplace performance. Formed in 1957, it was originally known as the "American Production and Inventory Control Society" or APICS. The mission of the organization is to advance end-to-end supply chain management. APICS merged with the Supply-Chain Council in 2014, and the American Society of Transportation and Logistics in 2015.
Reverse logistics encompasses all operations related to the upstream movement of products and materials. It is "the process of moving goods from their typical final destination for the purpose of capturing value, or proper disposal. Remanufacturing and refurbishing activities also may be included in the definition of reverse logistics." Growing green concerns and advancement of green supply chain management concepts and practices make it all the more relevant. The number of publications on the topic of reverse logistics have increased significantly over the past two decades. The first use of the term "reverse logistics" in a publication was by James R. Stock in a White Paper titled "Reverse Logistics," published by the Council of Logistics Management in 1992. The concept was further refined in subsequent publications by Stock (1998) in another Council of Logistics Management book, titled Development and Implementation of Reverse Logistics Programs, and by Rogers and Tibben-Lembke (1999) in a book published by the Reverse Logistics Association titled Going Backwards: Reverse Logistics Trends and Practices. The reverse logistics process includes the management and the sale of surplus as well as returned equipment and machines from the hardware leasing business. Normally, logistics deal with events that bring the product towards the customer. In the case of reverse logistics, the resource goes at least one step back in the supply chain. For instance, goods move from the customer to the distributor or to the manufacturer.
Demand management is a planning methodology used to forecast, plan for and manage the demand for products and services. This can be at macro-levels as in economics and at micro-levels within individual organizations. For example, at macro-levels, a government may influence interest rates to regulate financial demand. At the micro-level, a cellular service provider may provide free night and weekend use to reduce demand during peak hours.
Inventory control or stock control can be broadly defined as "the activity of checking a shop's stock". It is the process of ensuring that the right amount of supply is available within a business. However, a more focused definition takes into account the more science-based, methodical practice of not only verifying a business's inventory but also maximising the amount of profit from the least amount of inventory investment without affecting customer satisfaction. Other facets of inventory control include forecasting future demand, supply chain management, production control, financial flexibility, purchasing data, loss prevention and turnover, and customer satisfaction.
The business terms push and pull originated in logistics and supply chain management, but are also widely used in marketing and in the hotel distribution business.
The term demand chain has been used in a business and management context as contrasting terminology alongside, or in place of, "supply chain". Madhani suggests that the demand chain "comprises all the demand processes necessary to understand, create, and stimulate customer demand". Cranfield School of Management academic Martin Christopher has suggested that "ideally the supply chain should become a demand chain", explaining that ideally all product logistics and processing should occur "in response to a known customer requirement".
Postponement is a business strategy employed in manufacturing and supply chain management which maximizes possible benefit and minimizes risk by delaying further investment into a product or service until the last possible moment, or where a manufacturer produces a generic product, which can be modified at a later stage before the final distribution to the customer. An example of such a strategy is Dell Computers' build-to-order online store. One of the earliest references to the concept was in a paper by Walter Zinn and Donald J. Bowersox in the Journal of Business Logistics in 1988, which highlighted five types: labelling, packaging, assembly, manufacturing and time postponements.
Strategy& is the strategy consulting business unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the Big Four professional service firms.
Sustainable distribution refers to any means of transportation / hauling of goods between vendor and purchaser with lowest possible impact on the ecological and social environment, and includes the whole distribution process from storage, order processing and picking, packaging, improved vehicle loadings, delivery to the customer or purchaser and taking back packaging.
Third-party logistics is an organization's long term commitment of outsourcing its distribution services to third-party logistics businesses.
Management accounting in supply chains is part of the supply chain management concept. This necessitates planning, monitoring, management and information about logistics and manufacturing processes throughout the value chain. The goal of management accounting in supply chains is to optimise these processes. This strategy focuses on supporting management.
Operations management for services has the functional responsibility for producing the services of an organization and providing them directly to its customers. It specifically deals with decisions required by operations managers for simultaneous production and consumption of an intangible product. These decisions concern the process, people, information and the system that produces and delivers the service. It differs from operations management in general, since the processes of service organizations differ from those of manufacturing organizations.
Wolfgang Partsch is an Austrian pioneer in the domain of supply chain management (SCM). As an author of various standard works he gained wide international recognition.
