History of supply chain management

Before the 1950s, logistics was thought of in military terms. It had to do with procurement, maintenance, and transportation of military facilities, materials, and personnel.

The scope of physical distribution was expanded to include physical supply and was called business logistics. It emerged in the 1960s and 1970s.

The importance of logistics increased considerably, when physical distribution management in manufacturing firms was recognized as a separate organizational function . The SCM concept was coined in the early 1980s by consultants in logistics.

The first use of the term “supply chain management” is commonly related to the article “Supply Chain Management: Logistics Catches up with Strategy” by Oliver and Weber (1982).

The term “supply chain management” then came into widespread use in the 1990s. In practice, supply chain management became important in the 1990s in retail networks, the automotive industry, electronics, and textiles.

The origins of the technique of supply chain management are thought to lie in the shipyards of Japan and were first used in the early 1950s. The technique was later used in the car manufacturing industry and in particular was pioneered, again in Japan, by Toyota.

Physical distribution begins to emerge as an area of study and practice, which is the coordination of more than one activity associated with physically supplying product to the marketplace.

The development of supply chain management was driven in the 1990s by three main trends. These are: customer orientation, markets globalization, and establishing an information society.
History of supply chain management

A.P. Moller–Maersk Group – global leader of integrated transport

A.P. Moller–Maersk Group, more commonly known as Maersk, is a Danish business conglomerate headquartered in Copenhagen, which has activities in a variety of business sectors, primarily within the transportation and energy sectors.

From a modest beginning in steam shipping in 1904, A.P Moller-Maersk has grown into a global conglomerate.

A.P. Moller–Maersk Group’s largest operating unit is Maersk Line, the world’s largest overseas cargo and freight carrier. They have 324 offices in 115 countries worldwide and operate 590 container ships. A.P. Moller – Maersk Group also owns the international branch Maersk Oil, which produces more than 500,000 barrels of oil a day and large quantities of gas as well.

They estimate they ship $675 billion worth of good each year, almost as much as the GDP of Switzerland. Their Triple-E vessels can hold 18,000 twenty-foot containers and their current fleet has 5 of these vessels in active service.

In September 2016, A. P. Moller-Maersk Group announced it would be splitting into two separate divisions in order to focus on its core transportation and logistics services. All its oil-related business will be spun off into a separate Energy division.
A.P. Moller–Maersk Group – global leader of integrated transport