What is an animal production chain ?
Definition : Animal production chain
Animal production chain concept is defined by many different definitions which are dependant of stakeholders objective. You can consider those complementary definitions :
Production chain corresponds to a group of mater flows which include different economic stakeholders performing complementary and interdependant functions which directly contribute to create a final product satisfying final demand.
Production chain consists of joint technical operations defined by economic stakeholders strategies.
Thus animal production chain relates the succession of all stages of the production, from the upstream (primary production of a food of animal origin)up to the downstream sectors including processing, distribution,storage, transport, sale or supply to the final consumer.
Complement : Animal production chain stakeholders
Number of stakeholders depend on the production, the dimension (local, international) and the strategie of the chain.
You can make a distinction between a short, a longand an integrated chain :
In a short chain : the farmer supports one or many functions of the upstream and/or downstream sector. For example, the farmer make the feed on the farm with their own raw material, the farmer sell directly their product to the consumer. Diversity is high in this kind of supply chain. More often short chain are also associated with direct or local farming.
In a long-chain : their are many operators to create and sell the final product to the consumer. Large variability exists !
In an integrated chain : one of the operator from the upstream or downstream sector manage the functionning of one or many others stakeholders. Different level of integration and different models exist in European countries.
Whatever the model and the strategie adopted, you can identify flows, actors, products and markets to characterised the supply chain.
One stakeholder is characterized by :
one ecomical function
one decision-making power
specific behaviors
own intervention strategies
All stakeholders evolved in a concurrentiel world.
Method : Which limits of the production supply chain ?
To apply a supply chain approach, you need to identify the limits of the chain by defining its structure, its operation in particular in :
idenfication of flows and operations
idenfication of actors
functionnal analysis
Production supply chain is an interesting level for different tools such as quality and safety management tools.
Complement : Which benefits for an animal production supply chain approach ?
To learn more about value analysis in a supply chain, download this paper
