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NB: Please also read How
do I establish or participate in an Integrated Supply Chain?
Introduction to Supply Chain Integration: Chainlink
In the few years since Egan put his name to Rethinking
Construction the business world has undergone a revolution.
The advent of the internet means that changes that once took
years now take months, while the commercial imperative of
collaborative relationship building has become universally
recognised throughout commerce and industry. If anything,
with respect to the latter, construction lags well behind
the pre-eminent sectors in this field. In industries such
as microelectronics, chemicals and motor vehicles, the concepts
of leveraged and incentivised relationships have been the
norm for many years.
Not that there hasn't been a lot of attention devoted to collaborative
working in construction. Ever since Latham's Constructing
the Team (1994) there has been a growing appreciation of the
business case for integrating suppliers, customers and partners
into a seamless supply chain. The advantages can be dramatic in
terms of reduced time, costs, defects and conflict and increased
quality, client satisfaction and profit.
With the accumulated wisdom of several years, the construction
industry has now reached the stage where it is in a position to
take more decisive steps towards achieving genuine integration
throughout the construction supply chain. This is achievable through
the widespread adoption and adaptation of what have now become
established best practice principles, coupled with a cultural
readiness to change and continuously improve through the continual
appliance and re-appliance of operational feedback. Such an informed
'ready, fire, aim' strategy has the potential to generate a real
momentum for change at all operational levels.
This Chainlink section of the Strategic Forum Toolkit presents
hands-on guidance on how best practice in integration can be applied
at different levels of the supply chain.
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