Supply Chain, or Supply Mush?

<p>As we advanced from craftsmen through the industrial revolution, Henry Ford decided the best way to make automobiles was a 100% vertically integrated business model. In 1917 his River Rouge plant brought in iron ore at one end, and shipped out finished cars at the other. </p><p>That's one type of supply chain, one he found very difficult to execute.</p><p>Most of us used the term "purchasing" to describe locating, buying, and bringing in the materials and components required to make our products. Buyer, Senior Buyers, Buyer-Planners, and Purchasing Director jobs became plentiful. And, for the most part, clerical.</p><p>In the late 1900s we decide to "upskill" -- at least the term -- and refer to those people as Supply Chain. The work remained largely unchanged, but the term sounded good. </p><p>We described the suppliers involved down one level to infinity as our supply chain. We knew from professional education that "supply chain" spanned from our suppliers' suppliers to our customer's customers, but our thinking and behavior changed little.</p><p>But with that definition the visual of an actual supply chain, with each company represented by a link, evolved. Surely there was a "weakest link" that we could focus on. But it was never that linear in either direction, unless you were Henry Ford in 1917.</p><p>As economies developed and manufacturers grew, business became more complex. Buyers, regardless of current department titles, found suppliers with more regard for price and delivery than for simplicity or mutual advantage. We multi-sourced most items, and our suppliers did as well. </p><p>That pretty visual of a supply chain in no way represented the supply mush that evolved. </p><p>And now we want our supply chain, make that mush, to accept and design in responsibility for the environment, begetting the conceptual circular supply chain. </p><p>The prior reality of each company handing of responsibility for the environment to its customer was simple. Unfortunately, it has left us with a big mess. </p><p>So