Design of fractal information coordination system in a supply chain network

The rapid advancement in communication technology, coupled with spiralling customer expectations, are increasingly forcing business enterprises to seek inter‐organisational coordination for smooth material and informational flow across the total supply chain justifiably. Therefore, given the inherent uncertainties pervading the operational environment within real‐world supply chains, it becomes imperative for each partnering echelon to focus on individual information requirements from a viewpoint of global optimisation of overall SC performance. This information could manifest from 1) downstream echelons; 2) upstream partners; 3) a (hybrid) combination of both 1 and 2 above. From the perspective of a specific SC echelon then, we compare the above operating regimes using the performance measures: average inventory levels, average cycle times, average fill rates and average number of times lots are ordered. In this paper, the coordination among supply chain echelons is viewed from fractal factory theory perspective.