A strategic model for exact supply chain network design and its application to a global manufacturer

The key value proposition of supply chain segmentation is to differentiate supply chains through a reasonable number of segments in order to gain a level of standardisation and avoid managerial complexity incurred in fully customised supply chains. The decision on how products are grouped into segments is at the core of a successful implementation. A fundamental trade-off in this decision-making process is between higher differentiation by having small group sizes and higher standardisation from a smaller number of groups. In this manuscript, we implement segmentation on supply chain configurations and investigate the trade-off by analysing several network scenarios. We use optimisation models for each scenario to align decisions of segment formation and supply chain configurations. We show that divergences in demand characteristics, geographic difference, and cost synergy such as pooling effect have impacts on the balance of standardisation and differentiation.

Section: The Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differentiation vs. standardisation in supply chain segmentation: a quantitative study

Chan

Arıkan

2020

“…Several factors motivate supply chain networking. The first is advances in information and Internet technologies, which enable mutual and real-time access to information, data and files amongst companies spatially distributed across the globe (Arampantzi, Minis, and Dikas 2018;Ghobakhloo, Hong, and Standing 2014;Kache and Seuring 2017). Although IT applications initially evolved to support secure and evidential transfers of trading reports, cash and other assets and obligations by multi-national companies, applications have extended to logistics management, design, scheduling and manufacture (Gunasekaran, Subramanian, and Papadopoulos 2017;Han, Wang, and Naim 2017;Jayaraman, Ross, and Agarwal 2008;Soliman and Youssef 2001).…”

Section: Supply Chain Networkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agile manufacturing: an evolutionary review of practices

Gunasekaran

Yusuf

Adeleye

et al. 2018

137

Academics and practitioners have long acknowledged the importance of agile manufacturing and related supply chains in achieving firm sustainable competitiveness. However, limited, if any, research has focused on the evolution of practices within agile manufacturing supply chains and how these are related to competitive performance objectives. To address this gap, we reviewed the literature on an agile manufacturing drawing on the evolution of manufacturing agility, attributes of agile manufacturing, the drivers of agile manufacturing, and the identification of the enabling competencies deployable for agile manufacturing. Our thesis is that agile manufacturing is at the centre of achieving a sustainable competitive advantage, especially in light of current unprecedented market instability coupled with complex customer requirements. In this regard, the emphasis which agile manufacturing places on responsive adaptability would counter the destabilising influence of competitive pressures on organisations performance criteria. We have identified five enabling competencies as the agility enablers and practices of agile manufacturing, that is, transparent customisation, agile supply chains, intelligent automation, total employee empowerment and technology integration, and further explored their joint deployment to create positive multiplier effects. Future research directions were also provided with respect to the operationalisation of the five identified enablers and the potential for emergent technologies of big data, blockchain, and Internet of Things to shape future agile manufacturing practices.

“…Furthermore, in a recent study Arampantzi, Minis, and Dikas (2018) proposed a comprehensive model for supply chain network (SCN) design in global manufacturing. The authors argued that in order for global manufacturers to minimise investment and operational supply chain costs, they should incorporate allimportant characteristics of their multiple suppliers including procurement, production, inventory, warehousing, and transportation over the SCN design horizon (Arampantzi, Minis, and Dikas 2018). Ishizaka and Lopez (2018) adapted Cost-Benefit AHPSort to facilitate performance evaluation of offshore providers.…”

Section: Outsourcee Selection Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextualisation of the complexity in the selection of developing country outsourcees by developed country outsourcers

Pawar

Huq

Khraishi

et al. 2018

Outsourcing research has recognised that selecting the right offshore supplier (outsourcee) in low-cost distant developing countries is complex, but central to outsourcing success. More specifically, the combination of outsourcee contextual internal factors (e.g. capabilities) with outsourced-to country contextual external factors (e.g. political, legal, economic, socio-cultural) as two fundamental and interconnected decisions firms make when outsourcing remains an underexplored research gap. Therefore, through a rigorous three-tier qualitative approach we, firstly, develop a contextual Environmental Separation Index (ESI) decision tool to help outsourcing firms in making more informed decisions when selecting outsourcees and outsourcing locations. Secondly, we operationalise the ESI as intuitive and easy to use decision tool, yet with a provision to deliver a truly context proof outsourcee selection decision. Thirdly, we adopt a complexity theory lens to explain that narrowing the contextual outsourcer-outsourcee gap facilitates a mind-set shift in outsourcing relationships from hierarchies to networks and from controlling to empowering developing country outsourcees. We show from a complexity theory perspective how contextual separation gaps between developed country outsourcers and developing country outsourcees can be an effective way to grasp the evolutionary path of outsourcing relationships.