بررسی زمان جریان ملی زنجیره تامین An examination of national supply-chain flow time

1. Introduction In 1994, the US had the 9th largest manufacturing value added per capita in the world. By 2004, this ranking dropped to 16th and by 2014 it was ranked 19th (United Nations, 2017). The US remains a major manufacturing nation; however, evidence suggests that it might be losing its market share and may need to take action to remain a competitive location for production. The loss of manufacturing may result in a loss in innovation, as innovation occurs in factories and is often spurred when factories and laboratories are in close proximity (Tassey, 2010; Standard Chartered, 2015).An additional risk is the loss of supply chains to other nations. As national manufacturing supply chains migrate into an integrated global system, there is concern that US manufacturing might be hollowed out where intermediate goods and services for manufacturing are imported rather than produced domestically (Pisano and Shih, 2009; Tassey, 2010; Levinson, 2013). Gregory Tassey and others identify that the more labor intensive a technology, the more likely it is to be offshored (Tassey, 2010). Efficiency improvements and automation, however, can reduce unit cost and potentially increase quality and flexibility. These increases can cause growth in employment and value added as the domestic share of global markets expand (Tassey, 2010). Another benefit of efficiency and productivity improvements in production is long-term economic growth and increases in per capita income (Weil, 2005, p. 181). To improve efficiency, Tassey has concluded that ‘system-level productivity must become the focus of economic growth policy, which means the supply chain must become the focus of policy management, in contrast to the traditional emphasis on single technologies/industries.’ Companies, however, often work independently from one another, making it challenging to develop an efficient supply chain. Inefficiencies develop such as the bullwhip effect where variations in demand are magnified through a supply chain (Lee et al., 1997; Bray and Mendelson, 2012).Companies will need to look at performance across a range of factor inputs, including transportation, worker skills, materials, components, and energy to remain competitive. In order for domestic manufacturing to remain vibrant, a nation must consider these issues as well, but at a larger scale (McKinsey & Company, 2012). Moreover, challenges to long-term competitiveness are not an individual industry or company problem. Focusing on one industry is not sufficient for maintaining a competitive manufacturing sector.