Discuss how globalization and consolidation in supply have increased complexity.

Globalization and consolidation in supply chains have increased the complexity for organizations in terms of SKUs, customer and supplier locations, transportation requirements, trade regulations, taxes, and so forth. Companies need to take steps to simplify, as much as possible, the various aspects of their supply chains. For example, the number of SKUs has expanded for many companies, which exacerbates problems for inventory management and order fulfillment. Consequently, companies have been rationalizing SKUs to eliminate the slow movers and items that do not contribute to profitability. Locations also need to be analyzed to eliminate high-cost or duplicative operations. Customer service levels need to be rationalized, as do vendors or supplier alternatives. Layers of complexity develop and may seem necessary, but organizations need to continually evaluate those areas of complexity by evaluating processes, training people, and exploiting technology.