Process modelling in demand-driven supply chains: A reference model for the fruit industry

The growing importance of health in consumption is expected to result in a significant increase of European fruit demand. However, the current fruit supply does not yet sufficiently meet demand requirements. This urges fruit supply chains to become more demand-driven, that is, able to continuously match supply capabilities to changing demand requirements. Realisation of such dynamic supply chains requires the design of customised supply chain configurations and subsequently the engineering of enabling information systems. Reference process models can be valuable means to support this. Based on a case study in four European countries, this paper presents a reference model for designing business processes in demand-driven fruit supply chains. The model consists of a reference modelling framework and an application of the framework to fruit supply chains. The framework defines process models at different levels of abstraction and includes a method of how they can be composed from a repository of building blocks. The applied model comprises a definition of the model building blocks in fruit supply chains and a set of pre-configure models (templates). Together, they combine fruit-specific knowledge with the reuse of generic knowledge as captured in cross-industry standards. The developed reference model bridges the gap between supply chain design and information systems engineering by providing a consistent set of process models that are on the one hand understandable for business managers and on the other hand serve as a basis for information system implementation.