A SUPPLY CHAIN is a network of supplier, manufacturing, assembly, distribution, and logistics facilities that perform the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these products to customers. Supply chains arise in both manufacturing and service organizations. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT  (SCM) is a systems approach to managing the entire flow of information, materials, and services from raw materials suppliers  through factories and warehouses to the end customer. SCM is different from SUPPLY MANAGEMENT which emphasizes only the buyer-supplier relationship.Supply chain management has emerged as the new key to productivity and competitiveness of manufacturing and service enterprises. The importance of this area is shown by a significant spurt in research in the last five years and also proliferation of supply chain solutions and supply chain companies (e.g. i2, Manugistics, etc.). All major ERP companies are now offering supply chain solutions as a major extended feature of their ERP packages.Supply chain management is a major application area for Internet Technologies and Electronic Commerce (ITEC). In fact, advances in ITEC have contributed to growing importance of supply chain management and SCM in turn has contributed to many advances in ITEC. 

·  To introduce the major building blocks, major functions, major business processes, performance metrics, and major decisions 
(strategic, tactical, and operational) in supply chain networks

·  To provide an insight into the role of Internet Technologies and Electronic Commerce in supply chain operations and to discuss 
technical aspects of key ITEC components in supply chain management.

·  To bring out the role of stochastic models (Markov chains, queueing networks); optimization models (LP, ILP, MILP, GA, Constraint Programming); and simulation in supply chain planning and decision-making. This will provide the foundation for design and analysis of supply chains. 

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Those who want to increase their productivity by proactively choosing how and when to invest their time, and those wishing to develop more balance and control over their time commitments.