Development of a decision model for supply chain design

Despite the recent sharp rise in transportation costs due to high energy prices, the trend to generate value added in global supply chains remains unbroken. Besides increasing sales and minimizing costs companies aim to enhance their logistic performance in order to stand out from their competitors. Attaining these objectives is no longer influenced by just one's own company but rather by how the entire supply chain interacts. Optimally designing the supply chain is thus crucial, moreover, the configuration has to be continuously reviewed and adjusted. The research project presented in this paper is focused on developing a decision model for designing supply chains based on the evaluation of process configurations. The Supply Chain Operations Reference Model (SCOR model) expanded by standard process models forms the basis. It is used as a frame for easily and systematically summarizing the process costs, capital costs and key performance indicators of a supply chain. The result is a practice-oriented decision support system which allows logistic measures to be derived for designing the supply chain and evaluating their potential. It thus provides SCM support in solving the traditional problem of optimizing the value adding chain.