Towards an approach to identify the optimal instant of time for information capturing in supply chains

Abstract

Supply chains are becoming increasingly complex and with this development the challenges towards information management increase. The importance of capturing the right, most relevant information in order to avoid having too much information to handle is commonly accepted in industry and academia. But the question not yet sufficiently discussed by industry and academia is: What is the optimal instant of time to capture the relevant information along the process chain? With this paper the authors look into this issue by first analyzing two practical cases, from a transport and a manufacturing perspective. Afterwards, the elements of information captured are shortly elaborated and finally, constraints on the determination of the optimal instant of time for information capturing are elaborated in order to build a foundation for further research. This paper is a first step towards a methodological approach taking on these issues. A short conclusion and outlook summarizes the paper.