Supply Chain in the 1950's
Supply Chain Management has been around for years. The 1950's show "I Love Lucy" even shows a great example of the hardships that come with supply chain. The video is a great example of the Theory of Constraints. No process flow, steps can be perfect when you account for all the variables. In other words, every process has a constraint and the only way to avoid a constraint is to shift it because constraints, unfortunately, will never go away. With "I Love Lucy," it shows the difference between design capacity and effective capacity. Design capacity is the maximum obtainable output. Effective capacity is the maximum capacity under normal operating conditions. Clearly, the above video shows the workers cannot comply with what the company thinks is there effective capacity.
Not only does the video show there are always constraints and bottlenecks. It also shows a manufacturing process. This production line, which I would say is the most common manufacturing process, is continuous. As you can see, the pace of the work depends on the machines and the workers. If they aren't working together properly then you get results, like what happened in "I Love Lucy." The unfortunate thing about production lines is there lack of customization. With a lack of customization comes a lack of customer satisfaction. There are always trade offs occurring in the process of supply chain management. The chocolates are considered a commodity type product. Commodity type products are made to stock or made to order standardized items manufactured in anticipation of demand.
It's amazing to see how many elements to supply chain are in this video. The video is only two minutes long and you see a what a production line is, how it functions, constraints, bottlenecks, and the Theory of Constraints. Supply chain has been around forever and was even featured in a 1950's comedy show. Supply chain has become a very important aspect in the business world. Businesses are now even centering the way the function off the process of supply chain. Take Amazon for example, their main goal is to get the products you want to your house in a record time. Getting a product from point A to point B is what Amazon is known for and what supply chain is.
