Dynamic supply chain alignment

Ten years after ‘Strategic supply chain alignment’, John Gattorna provides a new business model for the supply chains of 21st century companies. In ‘Dynamic supply chain alignment’, he explains how multiple supply chains can be established and retained, with the flexibility of responding to opportunities and threats and the capability of properly gearing towards suppliers, chain partners and customer.

The four previously defined types of supply chains, continuous replenishment, lean, agile and fully flexible, are the basis of this book. These types are extensively discussed in the 28 chapters, in which existing theories about the supply chain are supplemented with new views and understanding. Gattorna, for instance, refines Hau Lee’s ‘Triple-A supply chain’ about the important role of the internal company culture. Three chapters deal with humanitarian supply chains as an example of flexible supply chains. Topical subjects like S&OP, tax-aligned supply chains and supply chains of the future are likewise discussed.

The message of the book is crystal clear: ‘We cannot keep up the conventional working methods, we need a new business model for business operations in their entirety, and for the supply chains of which companies are a part. Mindsets and corresponding practices will have to change dramatically in order to survive, in order to exist at all,’ according to Gattorna. Highly recommended for supply chain managers.