In business, a supply chain is basically a network of people, activities, goods, information and resources involving one step in the production of another product. In supply chain management, a company is said to be in the supply chain when it takes one particular action to produce another item in a process that involves a number of other actions. Supply chain can be studied in a more detailed manner from a supply chain diagram which shows how various stages in the production of an item are connected.Find out more about the BRC Audit from MQM Consulting
The most obvious part of the supply chain is the raw materials. A supply chain starts with the discovery of raw materials such as oil or coal, mining of these materials, manufacturing of these materials into something useful and finally the utilization of these raw materials into something useful for a profit generation. Manufacturing companies sometimes make use of auxiliary services of entities like factories to help them produce different items as they do not have the capacity to produce the items alone. On the other hand, some companies utilize joint ventures to make use of resources that they would otherwise have used for their own production. Other examples of using joint ventures in the production of what is a supply chain include transportation companies and manufacturers working together to provide their products to end users and to increase market share amongst each other.
Another aspect of the supply chain is recycling where raw materials are used and then cleaned up, refined, and sold to produce finished goods. Analysis of supply chains can further be categorized into two categories which are internal and external analysis.