Processes in a Supply Chain:

Supply Chain Management encompasses management of all of the elements and activities of the supply-chain. It includes material suppliers, distribution, production facility, services and customers; connected together via the feed-forward flow of information and the feedback flow of materials. The "Supply Chain" term is being extended to International/Global-supply chain. It is common in industries, which have global customer/supplier base; for instance, textile, pharmaceuticals, electronic, automobile, etc. The inclusion of distribution as a key link of the supply-chain makes its scope rather wide and extended. Distribution can incorporate several stages such as warehouse, Carry and Forwarding (C & F)) agents or third party freight-forwarders, retailers, wholesalers and servicing units. Figures (a) and (b) represent a generic structure and internal complexity of the supply chain. The multiplayer abstraction is evident in Figure (c) since a supplier can still have its own chain as depicted by dotted circles.

Figure: The  Processes in a Supply Chain

Figure (b) : A Genetic Structure of a Supply Chain

Figure (c) : The Multiple Layer Abstraction of a Supply Chain