Workshop on Food Supply Chain Management (1 day)
Professor dr. Jacques Trienekens (Wageningen University, The Netherlands)
Professor dr. Andre Louw (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
Workshop contents:
Food and agribusiness supply chains and networks – which tended to be primarily characterized by autonomy and independence of actors – are now rapidly moving towards globally interconnected systems with a large variety of complex relationships. The aim of this workshop is to give the participants knowledge of and insight in incentives for supply chain management and the effects of coordination of processes in supply chains. Attention is paid to key concepts of supply chain operations and logistics management, traceability in supply chains and supply chain governance and globalization issues.
The workshop includes 3 parts:
Part 1: Introduction
Currently, many organisational changes are taking place and new strategic directions are emerging in the field of production. Because of technological developments, increased international competition and new consumer demands, companies have been forced to a change over from push (supply) oriented production to pull (demand) oriented production. By making agreements about product characteristics and delivery conditions, companies try to comply more satisfactorily with the demand of customers (and other stakeholders) and to increase efficiency in the production process. Supply Chain Management is a strategy to extend these relationships to other parties in the production column, from primary producer to final customer (farm to fork). Drivers for inter-company collaboration and the Supply Chain Management approach will be discussed, supported by case examples.
Part 2: Key concepts in supply chain management
The first concept to be discussed is the Bullwhip effect which characterises traditional supply chains with lack of coordination resulting in a degradation of service and an increase in cost within a supply chain. Next we will go into management of supply chains. Special attention will be paid to specific characteristics of food supply chains including current quality and safety demands to food production and food products. A key concept in logistics and supply chain management is the Customer Order Decoupling Point (CODP) which is the point in the chain that distinguishes production on forecast and production on customer order. Key in the choice of the CODP is the aim to attain strategic fit between the competitive strategy and the supply chain strategy. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a major enabler of supply chain management makes communication of customer order information throughout supply chains possible. Furthermore, ICT supports traceability in supply chains.
Part 3: Globalization and governance: integrated view on supply chain management
In this third part of the workshop the focus will be on the achievement of a multi-disciplinary and integrated view of (international) supply chains. Four key dimensions of the supply chain organization of vulnerable (perishable) tropical food products will be discussed, namely
a) Channel choice: how to reach the final customer in an optimal way?
b) Governance regime: how to reduce transaction costs and enhance cooperation and trust amongst supply chain partners?
c) Quality performance: how to manage food technology processes in order to enhance quality levels and/or to exploit quality variability?
d) Value added distribution: how to guarantee an acceptable remuneration to supply chain partners according to their contributions and efforts?
The participants of the workshop will be encouraged to interact in discussions with the possibility to refer to their own working practice.
Literature (will be handed out at the workshop)
Vorst J.G.A.J., C.A. da Silva, J.H.Trienekens, 2007, Agro-industrial supply chain management: concepts and applications, Agricultural Management, Marketing and Finance Occasional Paper (17), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome 2007, 56p.Id.Id.
Ruben R., M. van Boekel, A. van Tilburg, J.Trienekens, 2007, Linking market integration, supply chain governance, quality and value added in tropical food chains, In: Ruben et al. (eds) Governance for Quality in Tropical Food Chains, Wageningen:Wageningen Acadamic Publishers, 13-46.
Slides of the presentations will be handed out at the workshop as well.