InvitedReviewSupplychainmanagementandadvancedplanning––basics,overviewandchallengesHartmutStadtlerFachgebietProduktion&SupplyChainManagement,Institutf€urBetriebswirtschaftslehre,TechnischeUniversit€atDarmstadt,Hochschulstraße1,D64289Darmstadt,GermanyAvailableonline6May2004AbstractLiteratureonsupplychainmanagement(SCM)coversseveraldisciplinesandisgrowingrapidly.ThispaperfirstlyaimsatextractingtheessenceofSCMandadvancedplanningintheformoftwoconceptualframeworks:ThehouseofSCMandthesupplychainplanningmatrix.Asanillustration,contributionstothisfeatureissuewillthenbeassignedtothebuildingblocksofthehouseofSCMortothemodulescoveringthesupplychainplanningmatrix.Secondly,focusingonsoftwareforadvancedplanning,weoutlineitsmainshortcomingsandpresentlatestresearchresultsfortheirresolution.2004ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.Keywords:Supplychainmanagement;Advancedplanning;Advancedplanningsystems1.IntroductionSincetheintroductionofthetermsupplychainmanagement(SCM)in1982(seeOliverandWebber,1992)ithasreceivedever-growinginter-estbothintheliteratureaswellasfromindustrialpractice.AreasonforthismightbethatithassomanyfacetsandthatthetasksofaccomplishingtheaimsofSCMaresodemandingthatitismoreanongoingendeavourthanasingleshort-termproject.ThisbroadscopeofSCMincursthedifficultyoffindingasuitabledefinitionanddes-criptionoftheterm.Theaimofthispaperistwofold:Firstly,wewillprovideanintroductiontoSCMbyoutliningthosebuildingblockswhichincursomenovelfeaturesforthemanagementof(network)com-paniesandhenceplayamajorroleinSCM.Oneofthesebuildingblocks,advancedplanning,willbeexplainedingreaterdetail.Thereareseveralcommercialsoftwarepackagesavailableforad-vancedplanning––so-calledadvancedplanningsystems(APS)––,whichincorporatemodelsandsolutionalgorithmsattributedtooperationsre-search.Sincethispaperalsoprovidesanoverviewofcontributionstothisfeatureissuewewillas-signthesecontributionstothebuildingblocksofthehouseofSCMortothemodulesofanAPS(seeSections2.2and3.2).Aswewillsee(Section3)thereisageneralstructureofAPSwhichbestcanbevisualizedbypositioningitsmodulesinatwo-dimensionaltable,theSCplanningmatrix.E-mailaddress:stadtler@bwl.tu-darmstadt.de(H.Stadtler).0377-2217/$-seefrontmatter2004ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2004.03.001EuropeanJournalofOperationalResearch163(2005)575–588www.elsevier.com/locate/dswSecondlyweareconcernedwiththefutureofAPS.Therefore,wewillhighlightdeficienciesofAPS,whichmaygiverisetofutureresearch.Threeareasforimprovementsareproposed:Improve-mentswhicharepossiblewithinthemodulesoftoday’sAPS,issueswhichchallengethepremisesoftoday’sAPS,andlastbutnotleasttwobusinessfunctionsareidentifiedwhichshouldbebetterintegratedwithAPS.Thestructureofthepaperisasfollows.InSection2thetermSCMisdefinedanditsbuildingblocksaredescribed.Section3intro-ducesthearchitectureandmodulesoftoday’sAPS.IssuesandchallengesofAPSarepresentedinSection4.Afewcommentsconcludethispaper(Section5).2.Essenceandscopeofsupplychainmanagement2.1.ThehouseofsupplychainmanagementFollowingtheproposalofChristopher(1998,p.15)asupplychain(SC)‘...isanetworkoforga-nizationsthatareinvolved,throughupstreamanddownstreamlinkagesinthedifferentprocessesandactivitiesthatproducevalueintheformofprod-uctsandservicesinthehandoftheultimatecon-sumer.’ThisdefinitionstressesthatalltheactivitiesalongaSCshouldbedesignedaccordingtotheneedsofthecustomerstobeserved.Con-sequently,the(ultimate)consumerisatbestanintegralpartofaSC.Themainfocusisontheorderfulfilmentprocess(es)andcorrespondingmaterial,financialandinformationflows.Incasetheorganizationalunitsbelongtoonesingleenterpriseanintra-organizationalSCisgi-ven.Here,hierarchicalcoordinationispossibleandprevailing.Whilehierarchicalcoordinationingloballyoperatingenterprisesisalreadyademandingtask,therealchallengearisesinaninter-organizationalSCwherehierarchicalcoor-dinationisnolongerpossible.AlthoughthereisacoherentviewofwhataSCrepresents,therearenumerousdefinitionsofthetermSCM(seeOttoandKotzab,1999).Thedef-initionproposedhereisnottotallynewbuttriestoextracttheessenceofexistingproposals:Supplychainmanagement(SCM)isthetaskofintegrat-ingorganizationalunitsalongaSCandcoordi-natingmaterials,informationandfinancialflowsinordertofulfil(ultimate)customerdemandswiththeaimofimprovingcompetitivenessoftheSCasawhole.ThisdefinitionisbestvisualizedbytheFig.1.HouseofSCM(Stadtler,2002a,p.10).576H.Stadtler/EuropeanJournalofOperationalResearch163(2005)575–588houseofSCM(Fig.1)andwillbedescribedingreaterdetailbelow.2.1.1.CompetitivenessandcustomerserviceTheroofofthehouseofSCMdepictstheulti-mateaimofSCM,namelyimprovingcompeti-tivenessofaSCasawhole.ThisisachievedbydirectingtheSCinasustainable,strategicpositioncomparedtoitscompetitors(thisisinlinewiththeideasofPorter(1998,p.55)forasinglecompany).Animportantmeanstoachievethisaimiscus-tomersatisfaction(seeChristopher(1998,p.35)foradetaileddescription).ExcellentexamplesofhowtofocusSCprocessesoncustomersaregivenbytwocasestudies(Berryetal.,1999;Childer-houseetal.,2002),which––basedontheworkofSkinner(1974)––showhowtoanalysethestrengthsandw