A supply chain control tower is a central hub for collecting and utilizing supply chain data to support decision-making that is aligned with strategic objectives. The control tower provides the capability for tracking information and product flows along with costs by monitoring critical processes in the supply chain, including positions and levels of inventory, shipment in transit conditions, and real-time order movements. It improves speed, reliability, and flexibility for gaining a competitive advantage according to well-controlled and managed supply chain functions.

Please cover various dimensions of the idea of supply chain information management and technologies as seen in our course, such as addressing the contributions of supply chain control towers in the logistics industry.

1 Show the operational issues which can be resolved after appropriately introducing the supply chain control tower.

2 Demonstrate in your own words how the functionalities of electronic data interchange (EDI) technologies facilitate communication of data from diverse sources and integrate data into the supply chain control tower.

3 Consider your own organization or one that you are familiar with in the logistics industry (e.g., a manufacturer, supplier, distributor, retailer, 3PL, etc.) that adopts EDI technologies or extensible markup language (XML) in its operations. Describe the background, target customer, as well as core competencies of the organisation.  Determine how EDI technologies or XML can improve the functions of the selected organisation’s supply chain control tower as well as operational performance.

4 How will you apply what you have learnt, which will make you do things differently in the future, into practice (to your study, your work or your life)?