The Supply Chain is the set of organizations, people, activities, information, technologies, and resources involved in the passage of a product or service from the supplier to the end consumer. By definition, it covers the entire lifecycle of a good: the sourcing of raw materials, production, warehouse storage, distribution, and reverse logistics (returns).
Clearly, there are different levels of complexity within the supply chain. There can be a simple supply chain, with a direct link between supplier and company and between company and consumer; or there can be a complex supply chain, where the supplier-company and company-customer relationship involves numerous exchanges of logistics flows, both physical and informational, running from downstream to upstream and, in some cases, extending on a global scale.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is therefore nothing more than the set of all those logistics activities whose objective is to manage these flows and improve operational efficiency. It is divided into two main phases:
The supply chain is a broader concept than logistics management. While logistics handles the storage and transportation phases of goods, supply chain management is responsible for coordinating the entire process, from planning through replenishment, production, and storage, to transport and delivery, and for coordinating the company’s entire network of relationships, including suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and customers. Logistics is therefore a sub-phase within the broader operational process of the supply chain.
As Martin Christopher writes in his volume Logistics and Supply Chain Management, logistics primarily represents a system for managing the flow of products and information within the company, while supply chain management extends this approach to the entire network of actors involved. The objective is to create integration and collaboration between suppliers, the company, and customers; to foster information sharing; to reduce inefficiencies such as excess inventory relative to demand; and to improve competitive advantage.
The supply chain focuses on the philosophy of planning and coordinating the flow of materials from source to end user as an integrated system, linking procurement, production, and distribution to reduce costs and improve service. The concept of the value chain, made famous by Michael Porter, takes a different perspective: it focuses on breaking the company down into strategically relevant activities, such as design, marketing, and logistics, in order to understand how these generate competitive advantage through differentiation or cost reduction. While the supply chain concerns operational management and flow integration, the value chain analyzes how each individual activity, whether primary (e.g. inbound logistics, operations) or support-based (e.g. human resource management, technology development), contributes to creating superior value for the end customer.
The supply chain becomes a value chain when flow management is strategically oriented toward offering the market a value that competitors cannot match. Organizations like Stesi support businesses precisely in making this transition: transforming the complexity of the supply chain into a concrete competitive advantage.
The supply chain must be an integrated process that transforms a market need into a finished product or service accessible to the consumer. Here are the six key phases that make up the supply chain:
Most of these phases have a dedicated company department, which must coordinate with the others to guarantee uninterrupted flows within an integrated logistics ecosystem. What often happens in many companies, even large ones, is that these departments work instead in silos, without information integration or coordination. In the absence of a shared digital language, the company faces a whole series of waste and inefficiencies. The misalignment between production and the warehouse, for example, generates unnecessary overproduction of items that are already in stock but simply cannot be traced, or, conversely, production line stoppages caused by components that cannot be located. At the same time, the lack of shared data between procurement and logistics causes space saturation and costly emergency purchases, while the commercial department risks promising delivery dates based on inaccurate stock figures. This information short-circuit translates into inventory discrepancies, billing delays, a drastic reduction in margins, and a decline in customer confidence.
How can these common problems be solved? The answer lies in the digitalization of processes which, following an accurate phase of flow analysis, makes it possible to have real-time visibility into the status and quantities of goods and to coordinate their movements across the entire supply chain.
To overcome departmental misalignments and information silos, the solution is both organizational and technological. The digitalization of the supply chain is a process that transforms the value chain from a linear, static model into an integrated, dynamic, and real-time traceable ecosystem. This integration is achieved through an ecosystem of specialized software platforms that communicate with one another, eliminating blind spots. The key tools include:
Hybrid solutions also exist that combine the functionality of two or more of these systems into a single platform available on the market. These are known as SCES (Supply Chain Execution System) software, a category in which Stesi has been a specialist developer since 1996.
As highlighted by the research of Ye Tian and Lei Cui, »Supply Chain Resilience and Digital Transformation: Perspectives from a Supply Chain Network« (2025), digital technologies are today the primary driver of resilience and enable companies to navigate crises even in contexts of geopolitical instability. The study demonstrates that the adoption of tools such as IoT, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Twins allows companies to move from a »passive« response to crises, largely based on manual spreadsheets and fragmented communications, to a proactive construction of operational stability.
According to the researchers, modern supply chain management rests on three pillars: a superior capacity to process information in order to reduce market uncertainty; a recovery ability guaranteed by constant monitoring; and an optimization of warehouse inventory turnover. Digitalizing means perfectly aligning supply and demand, reducing the costs of capital tied up in unused stock. If in 2010 logistics management depended on phone calls and manual data entry, today integrated data platforms make it possible to recalibrate routes and suppliers within days, turning operational transparency into a concrete competitive advantage. However, as with all transformative technologies, this evolution also requires solid digital governance to protect data flows and ensure cybersecurity.
Supply chain optimization is not a one-size-fits-all process. It is a journey that can be undertaken through different approaches and methodologies depending on the needs of the business. The most common method consists in automating existing processes through the introduction of new technologies, improving the efficiency of what is already being done. There is, however, a more radical approach: total reengineering. This method sets aside current flows entirely in order to reconstruct a completely new process, designed with the sole focus on the final objective the company wishes to achieve.
The choice between incremental improvement and deep transformation cannot be made arbitrarily. It must stem from a rigorous analysis of the current state of flows. The key phases of supply chain optimization are three:
Why invest in SCES (Supply Chain Execution System) software? In contexts where increasing revenue beyond a certain threshold is no longer possible, cost reduction becomes the only strategic lever available for defending and growing margins. It is estimated that logistics accounts for between 10% and 20% of the total cost of a product, depending on the sector: acting on this line item means directly impacting business competitiveness. A modern SCES system makes it possible to meet the demands of ever-faster deliveries and to improve service levels through three fundamental pillars:
If you are unsure which supply chain optimization solution is right for your business, let us talk: we are here to help you convert your processes from a cost center into a competitive lever for your company.
A real-world example of how technology can transform the supply chain into a competitive advantage is the project carried out by Stesi for Linergy, a manufacturer of emergency lighting systems. Operating under an Assembly to Order (ATO) model in a highly regulated sector, Linergy needed to resolve a critical misalignment between production and the automated warehouse, which had until then been managed through paper-based records and asynchronous, siloed processes.
Following a thorough consulting engagement and process analysis, Stesi’s intervention focused on optimizing and automating flows through the implementation of the silwa platform, integrating the company’s existing ERP (Microsoft Dynamics NAV), the Ferretto automated warehouse, and the assembly workstations into a single digital ecosystem. Thanks to the synergy between Stesi’s MES and WMS, Linergy achieved tangible benefits across three key areas:
Managing a solid and effective supply chain requires cross-functional skills that span from strategic vision at the organizational level down to operational execution in the field. Here are some of the key figures who keep the logistic chain running every day: