HOW DO YOU MEASURE COSTS ACROSS THE SUPPLY CHAIN?

摘要

The consumer will be king and queen. Customer retention is critical and treating customers as "a lifetime stream of revenues" is paramount for suppliers. But each customer has unique desires and will increasingly look for customized goods and services. Technology can make this possible. How will Supply Chain manufacturers and distributors distinguish profitable customers from unprofitable ones? Information technology from the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software vendors is enabling all of the trading partners along the value-creation chain to better coordinate and collaborate. Supply Chain authorities believe that there are four essential ingredients for successful Supply Chain management: · Continuous replenishment (demand-pull material flow) · Electronic commerce (EDI, bar coding) · Category management · True and actual cost information (activity based costing, [ABC]) Activity based costing (ABC) translates the traditional (but incomplete, structurally deficient, and often inaccurate) cost accounting system's data into a more usable structure and supports various decisions by Supply Chain management teams and end-users.