Page 11 - DMGT523_LOGISTICS_AND_SUPPLY_CHAIN_MANAGEMENT

Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Notes Bicycles and pushcarts drawn by individual tiffin-wallahs arrive from various collection
centres to the suburban railway station by 9:20 a.m. At the stations, the sorting operation
begins with tiffins sorted according to destinations and placed in cartages that are specific
to each destination. The cartages come in two standard sizes, accommodating 24 and 48
tiffins each. This is completed by 9:41 a.m., when the suburban train arrives. The cartages,
normally numbering 5-6, are loaded into the special compartment located next to the
driver’s cabin.
The train arrives at one of the major hubs by 10:21 a.m. The cartages are unloaded and
bundled with those arriving from other collection centres. They are resorted according to
destinations. By 11:05 a.m., the cartages are located into the suburban train for onward
journey to the final destination terminals. When the suburban train reaches the terminal
station, cartages are unloaded and tiffins are resorted, now according to specific delivery
routes.

By 12:10 p.m., the tiffins are placed in destination-specific cartages and hitched, typically
onto bicycles or pushcarts for delivery to individual clients and delivered at the doorstep
of the client’s workplace, at the latest by 12:30 p.m. The delivery process is reversed in the
afternoon. The empty tiffin is picked up between 1:15 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. for its return to
the client’s home early that evening (e.g. by 5:30 p.m.).
As will be apparent, the whole operation is a marvel of product movement (through co-
ordination, trust, multi-tasking and role changes) and perfect exchange of information
(through the coding system, rail timings, and knowledge of Mumbai’s geography) – this
is a perfect supply chain. The supply chain is about information use and it is about product
movement. There are three key areas of focus:
(a) Proper information use,
(b) Proper product movement, and

(c) Proper relationship management.
Factors that assist in enhancing information use, relationships, or product movement,
help in improving and creating excellence in the supply chain.

Source: Upendra Kachru, (2010), “Exploring the Supply Chain,” Excel Books
Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
1. Members of the supply chain act as partners who are “linked” together through both
physical and information flows.

2. Logistic can be defined as the active management of supply chain activities to maximize
customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
3. For any supply chain, there is only one source of revenue: the customer.

1.2 Generalised Supply Chain Model

The general concept of an integrated supply chain is typically illustrated by a line diagram that
links participating firms into a coordinated competitive unit. A conventional supply chain is
shown in Figure 1.4. It is a chain of firms that are involved in providing a product or service,
each firm performing its own functions that begins activities with a customer order and ends
when a satisfied customer has paid for his or her purchase. Generally, more than one player is

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