Question 1
A supply chain control tower is a central hub for collecting and utilising supply chain data to support decision making that is aligned with strategic objectives. The control tower provides the capability for tracking information and product flows along with costs by monitoring critical processes in the supply chain, including positions and levels of inventory, shipment in transit conditions and real-time order movements. It improves speed, reliability and flexibility
for gaining a competitive advantage according to well-controlled and managed supply chain functions.
Prepare a short essay of no more than 1,000 words to address the contributions of supply chain control tower in the logistics industry. Relevant resources and proper citations are needed. Your essay should persuasively muster arguments and evidence in support of your answer to this
question. It should cover various dimensions of the idea of supply chain information management and technologies as seen in our course, such as:
(a) Show the operational issues which can be resolved after appropriately introducing a supply chain control tower.
(b) Demonstrate in your own words how the functionalities of electronic data interchange (EDI) technologies facilitate communication of data from diverse sources and integrate data into the supply chain control tower.
(c) Consider your own organisation or one that you are familiar with in the logistics industry (e.g., a manufacturer, supplier, distributor, retailer, 3PL, etc.) that adopts EDI technologies or extensible markup language (XML) in its operations. Describe the background, target customer, as well as core competencies of the organisation.
Determine how EDI technologies or XML can improve the functions of the selected organisation’s supply chain control tower as well as operational performance.
(d) How will you apply what you have learnt, which will make you do things differently in the future, into practice (to your study, your work or your life)?
There may be some overlap between some of these dimensions. Therefore, although you could simply have a section for each of the listed dimensions, you may find that some other way to organise your essay will work better. It is your choice.
Note: Another 10 marks are allocated to the quality of writing and 10 marks to the quality of presentation.
