What are the advantages of the C3 system?
The phenomenon of the Collective Customer Collaboration system (C3) on the supply chain performance of an organization can hardly be overrated (Ned, 2011). The concept in question helps simulate the multi-agent supply chain in the environment of the global market. According to Elofson and Robinson (2007), the C3 system invites an opportunity for customers to take part in the process of the product design. Thus, one may assume quite legitimately that the specified approach may improve the customer relations in an organization significantly. By reinforcing the analysis of customer feedback and offering clients a chance to shape the product the way that they want to see it one is likely to increase the rates of customer satisfaction as well as the overall quality of communication with clients. Moreover, the C3 system can be viewed as the tool for identifying the essential information as opposed to managing large amounts of data: “Mass customization provides too many choices and excess variety, while C3 allows one to specify instead of choose” (Elofson & Robinson, 2007, p. 2569). As a result, data is processed accurately and arranged adequately.
How does centralized control show greater overall supply chain performance than decentralized control?
Although the phenomenon of decentralized control also has its benefits such as the opportunity to provide managers with freedom in decision making, the centralized approach is still more efficient as it helps improve the SCM process significantly (Ebert, 2011). To be more exact, when making the system centralized, one is likely to avoid a range of expenditures, therefore, saving an impressive amount of money, as the centralized strategy “does reduce overall inventory holding costs” (Elofson & Robinson, 2007, p. 2588). Herein the key reason for the centralized control to be more beneficial for a firm than the decentralized one lies; bringing the rates of costs down to a considerable extent, it creates a chance to retrieve extra resources which can later on be used in emergency cases. As a result, the principle of sustainability can be incorporated into the firm’s operations design with the help of a centralized control strategy (Johnsen, Howard, & Miemczyk, 2011).
Describe the elements and process of simulation used by the article
The SSM simulation strategy is composed of the following agents: the production-planning agents, the capacity-planning ones, and the material-planning ones (Elofson & Robinson, 2007). Each of the agents mentioned above contributes to the key processes occurring in the firm and serves a unique purpose. For instance, the production-planning and the capacity-planning agents process the information related to the use of the company’s resources and build plans regarding the production process. In addition, the production-planning agents deliver the necessary resources to the material-planning agents so that the production process could commence. The capacity-planning agents, in their turn, identify the capacity of the organization based on the plan. Eventually, the SCN management agents locate the available suppliers based on the order information (Elofson & Robinson, 2007).
Reference List
Ebert, C. (2011). Global software and IT: A Guide to distributed development, projects, and outsourcing. New York City, New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Elofson, G., & Robinson, W. F. (2007). Collective customer collaboration impacts on supply-chain performance. International Journal of Production Research, 45(11), 2567–2594.
Johnsen, T., Howard, M., & Miemczyk, J. (2011). Purchasing and supply chain management: A sustainability perspective. New York City, New York: Routledge.
Ned, K. (2011). Advancing collaborative knowledge environments: New trends in e-collaboration: New Trends in E-Collaboration. New York City, New York: IGI Global.