The network of people, companies and activities that moves a product from raw material to customer: sourcing, making, storing, moving and selling.
A Warehouse Management System is software that directs receiving, put-away, picking, packing and shipping, and tracks stock in real time.
Enterprise Resource Planning joins finance, HR, purchasing, manufacturing and inventory in one system. SAP and Oracle are well-known examples.
Material Requirements Planning works out which materials are needed, how many and by when, from the production schedule and the bill of materials.
FIFO ships the oldest stock first and suits perishable goods. LIFO issues the newest stock first.
Barcodes are read by optical scanners, and UPC/EAN is the retail standard. RFID tags use radio and can be read without a clear line of sight.
Electronic Data Interchange swaps standard business documents between partners. An Advanced Shipping Notice (EDI 856) tells the receiver what is arriving.
Just-In-Time receives goods only when they are needed to keep stock low. Economic Order Quantity is the order size that minimises ordering plus holding costs.
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