【正文】 (QR) strategy. QR is a partnership where retailers and suppliers work together to respond more quickly to consumer needs by sharing information. Significant changes as a result of the study were the industry adoption of the UPC code used by the grocery industry and a set of standards for electronic data interchange (EDI) between panies. Retailers began installing point of sale (POS) scanning systems to transfer sales information rapidly to distributors and manufacturers. “QR maximizes the profitability of inventory by placing the pany’s dollars where and when they are needed based on point of sale data plus sales history” (Mullin, 1994). QR incorporates marketing information on promotion, discounts, and forecasts into the manufacturing and distribution plan.Efficient consumer response, the grocery business initiativeIn 1992, a group of grocery industry leaders created a joint industry task force called the efficient consumer response (ECR) working group. The group was charged with examining the grocery supply chain to identify opportunities to make the supply chain more petitive (Kurt Salmon Associates Inc.,1993). Kurt Salmon Associates were engaged by the group to examine the grocery supplier/distributor/ consumer valuechain and determine what improvements in cost and service could be acplished through changes in technology and business practices.The results of the study indicated little change in technology was required to improve performance, other than further development of EDI and POS systems. However, the study identified a set of best practices which, if implemented, could substantially improve overall performance of the supply chain. As Kurt Salmon and Associates (1993) found: “By expediting the quick and accurate flow of information up the supply chain, ECR enables distributors and suppliers to anticipate future demand far more accurately than the current system allows”. Through implementation of best practices they projected an overall reduction in supply chain inventory of 37 percent, and overall cost reductions in the industry in the range of $24 to $30 billion.The successful adoption of ECR for a manufacturer depends on their ability to maintain manufacturing flexibility which enables them to match supply with demand. Key to this flexibility is a process that tightly integrates demand management, production scheduling, and inventory deployment to allow the pany to better utilize information, production resources, and inventory (Weeks and Crawford, 1994).A further development from ECR was the concept of continuous replenishment (CRP).CRP is a move away from pushing product from inventory holding areas to pulling products onto grocery shelves based on consumer demand (ECR Performance Measures Operating Committee, 1994). Point of purchase transactions are forwarded by puter to the manufacturer allowing them to keep the retailer replenished and balanced justintime.CRP has been introduced by a number of manufacturers (Garry, 1994). Procter amp。 中國(guó)礦業(yè)大學(xué)礦業(yè)工程學(xué)院 論文翻譯課程名稱 供應(yīng)鏈論文翻譯姓名 馬X 班級(jí) 工業(yè)13X班學(xué)號(hào) 01X 日期 成績(jī) 教師 李XIntroduction to supply chain conceptsFirms can no longer effectively pete in isolation of their suppliers and other entities in the supply chain. Interest in the concept of supply chain management has steadily increased since the 1980s when panies saw the benefits of collaborative relationships within and beyond their own organization. A number of definitions have been proposed concerning the concept of “the supply chain” and its management. This paper defines the concept of the supply chain and discusses the evolution of supply chain management. The term does not replace supplier partnerships, nor is it a description of the logistics function. Industry groups are now working together to improve the integrative processes of supply chain management and accelerate the benefits available through successful implementation. The petitive importance of linking a fir m’s supply chain strategy to its overall business strategy and some practical guidelines are offered for successful supply chain management.Definition of supply chainVarious definitions of a supply chain have been offered in the past several years as the concept has gained popularity. The APICS Dictionary describes the supply chain as: 1 .the processes from the initial raw materials to the ultimate consumption of the finished product linking across supplier user panies。 2 and the functions within and outside a pany that enable the value chain to make products and provide services to the customer (Cox et al., 1995).Another source defines supply chain as, the network of entities through which material flows. Those entities may include suppliers, carriers, manufacturing sites, distribution centers, retailers, and customers (Lummus and Alber, 1997). The Supply Chain Council(1997) uses the definition: “The supply chain –a term increasingly used by logistics professionals – enpasses every effort involved in producing and delivering a final product, from the supplier’s supplier to the customer’s customer. Four basic processes – plan, source, make, deliver – broadly define these efforts, which include managing supply and demand, sourcing raw materials and parts, manufacturing an assembly, warehousing and inventory tracking, order entry and order management, distribution across all channels, and delivery to the customer.” Quinn (1997) defines the supply chain as “all of those activities associated with moving goods from the rawmaterials stage through to the end user.This includes sourcing and procurement, production scheduling, order processing, inventory management, transportation, warehousing, and customer service. Importantly, it also embodies the information systems so necessary to monitor all of those activities.”In addition to defining the supply chain, several authors ha