Supply Chain, Essay Example

According to the textbook “Supply Chain Management”, logistics is defined as “the function responsible for all aspects of the movement and storage of materials on their journey from original suppliers through to final customers” (Waters, 2008). The same text defines supply chains as “the series of activities and organizations that materials move through on their journey from initial suppliers to final consumers” (Waters, 2008). Therefore, the major distance between logistics and supply chains is that logistics describe the movement and storage of a product while supply chains describe the steps that the product must take through various third parties to reach its final destination.

Ultimately, the function of the supply chain is to describe the activities that are required to move the product towards the final consumers; logistics primarily considers the function of actual product movement. When considering supply chains rather than logistics, buyers can be considered either customers or suppliers depending on where they stand in the supply chain. For example, if a manufacturer buys raw materials and then transforms these materials into a sellable product and then sells this final product to either wholesalers or a merchant, the manufacturer is participating in dual roles.

Since logistics and supply chains are clearly different terms, people who work in industry as logistics managers and supply chain managers serve very different roles. A member of the logistics management team is usually responsible for planning, implementing, and regulating the transfer of goods and services between the origin and the final consumer. Meanwhile, a member of the supply chain management team is usually responsible for managing the transfer of goods and services between each pair of sellers and buyers throughout the entire chain, until the product reaches the consumer. Although logistics are a part of the supply chain process, it is essential to remember that they are different concepts.

References

Waters, D. (2008). Supply Chain Management. Retrieved from             http://www.palgrave.com/uploadedfiles/Business/Waters/waters_sample_chapter.pdf