11) Inefficiencies in the supply chain, such as parts shortages, underutilized plant capacity, excessive finished goods inventory, or high transportation costs, are caused by inaccurate or untimely information.
12) If a manufacturer had perfect information about exactly how many units of product customers wanted, when they wanted them, and when they could be produced, it would be possible to implement a highly efficient just-in-time strategy.
13) One recurring problem in supply chain management is the bullwhip effect.
14) Inaccurate information can cause minor fluctuations in demand for a product to be amplified as one moves further back in the supply chain.
15) One of the most important–and complex–supply chain planning functions is demand planning, which determines how much product a business needs to make to satisfy all of its customers' demands.
16) Supply chain execution systems manage the flow of products through distribution centres and warehouses to ensure that products are delivered to the right locations in the most inefficient manner.
17) Enterprise systems supply some integration of internal supply chain processes but they are not designed to deal with internal supply chain processes.
18) Firms use intranets to improve coordination among their external supply chain processes.
19) Firms use extranets to improve coordination among their internal supply chain processes.
20) Global supply chains typically span smaller geographic distances and time differences than domestic supply chains.