Supply-chain excellence for accelerated improvement

Many firms have begun employing an integrative approach called supply-chain management (SCM) to manage their raw-materials-supply–production–distribution systems. 3M Company uses SCM to achieve its companywide goals of increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty, doubling the speed of key business processes, and reducing inventories and costs. 3M's experience indicates that to derive tangible benefits from SCM a firm must (1) create a clear vision of what it wants to accomplish, (2) establish and communicate companywide supply-chain goals, (3) develop a definition of its supply chain and formulate goals for improving supply-chain operations, (4) develop a process for implementing SCM, and (5) develop measures for assessing progress toward achieving business-unit and companywide goals.