Your supply chain is an infrastructure for ensuring the timely, efficient execution of every task involved in producing and delivering a final product. I admit I am an outsider to supply chain management with a bias toward production and process operations. As such, I am frequently dismayed that supply chain discussions and diagrams seldom provide more than a general reference to manufacturing as a link in the chain, while other links are discussed in great detail. I m not sure why this is the case, given that any chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If a supply chain is to be truly strong from end to end, then plant engineering the function that provides the physical infrastructure for manufacturing must be made an integral part of the program.
Manufacturing stands at the center of the industrial supply chain.
All sources of supply feed into it and all product flows from it. It is potentially the greatest constraint in successful supply chain management. Thus, the manufacturing or processing plant and everything that happens inside it are critical. The ability of the plant to produce the desired product in the required quantities at the required time and with the required quality is at the heart of the supply chain program. Plant engineering is the function in manufacturing that provides the capacity for accomplishing all this.