This wide-ranging reader locates supply chain management, lean production and related practice within the holistic concept of total product systems. It emphasises the importance of effective management of supply chains and supply networks across all stages of the complete 'cradle-to-grave' product life cycle, including the phases of purchase by consumers and other end users, product use and support, and end-of-life reprocessing. It reflects the increasing importance of supply chain management to organizations of all types, across service sectors as well as in manufacturing. The readings are presented in four distinct sections, focusing on: theoretical and conceptual issues: inter-organizational relationships within product systems: achieving change within organizations: and particular issues and challenges for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. An introductory chapter by the editors establishes a framework for advancing policy and practice across total products system. The readings are interdisciplinary and international , appealing to a world-wide audience.

Author Biography

Ed Rhodes is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Design and Innovation in the Open University?s Faculty of Technology. He is Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Supply Chain Innovation and Dynamics (CASCAID) research group and has edited earlier readers in related fields, including ?Implementing New Technologies: Innovation and the Management of Technology? (Second Edition, Blackwell Publishing, 1995). James Warren is Staff Tutor in Technology at the Open University in the East of England, and is a member of CASCAID and the Energy and Environment Research Unit (EERU). Ruth Carter is Staff Tutor in Technology at the Open University in Yorkshire, and is a member of CASCAID.