TRAILBLAZER
Keith Oliver
The British businessman who coined the term ‘ supply chain ’
It was British logistician and business consultant Keith Oliver who , in 1984 , first mentioned the phrase ‘ supply chain ’
British logistician and business consultant Keith Oliver is a trailblazer in the truest sense of the word , being the very man who first coined the term ‘ supply chain ’. Keith Oliver was educated in the UK at Monmouth School and Birmingham University . He was a Methods Analyst at the West Midlands Gas Board before joining consultancy firm Booz Allen Hamilton .
It was while there , in the late 1970s , that Oliver began formulating his revolutionary ideas while working with clients including SKF , Heineken , Hoechst , Cadbury- Schweppes , and Philips .
His key ideas around the subject are said to have gelled during an engagement with Philips , the Dutch consumer electronics manufacturer .
During this time , Oliver first developed his vision for tearing down the functional silos that separated production , marketing , distribution , sales , and finance – to generate a reduction in inventory and a simultaneous improvement in customer service .
Looking for a catchy phrase to describe the concept , Oliver ’ s colleagues suggested the term ‘ integrated inventory management ’.
Oliver coins SCM in interview with Financial Times But Oliver was not convinced . On June 4 , 1982 , he forever changed how we would refer to the business of moving goods around the world . In an interview with Arnold Kransdorff in the Financial Times , Oliver discussed his new business concept , which he dubbed ‘ supply chain management ’.
He defined it thus : “ Supply chain management ( SCM ) is the process of
18 November 2022