Outsourcing of production is an important phenomenon and a complex process and several frameworks describing how to outsource are presented in the literature. Logistics factors are included in some of the existing frameworks but seldom focused upon. Instead, logistics factors are discussed in more general terms. The objective is to derive and apply a general outsourcing process and structure logistics factors related to this process. Empirical data have been collected through a multiple case study consisting of three cases from three Swedish production companies. The application of the general outsourcing process to the cases showed that all three companies followed a process similar to the one derived from literature. Logistics factors important to include in an outsourcing process are categorised into the following groups: chain structure, customer service, logistics costs, and supply and logistics terms.

In this paper, a general outsourcing process was derived from the literature; important areas of logistics to be considered during an outsourcing process were then categorised and related to this process. The process was applied to empirical data from three companies. All three companies included all phases of the general outsourcing process in their outsourcing projects. The derived process thereby mirrors how these companies work with outsourcing projects. This makes it possible for other companies to use the process. The companies included logistics considerations in their processes but lacked a conscious focus on logistics. Using the general process including logistics would reduce the possibility of overlooking important considerations during outsourcing projects and decrease the problems discovered after implementation. An improved and more systemised outsourcing process would also probably decrease the time necessary for outsourcing projects. Further research should include studies of ongoing outsourcing projects, using the general outsourcing process including logistics.

The increasing interest in and importance of shortening product development times have underlined the necessity of working with overlapping activities in product development projects (PDPs), i.e. concurrent engineering. In the literature it has been argued that materials supply system (MSS) design should form one dimension of concurrent engineering and be coordinated with product and production systems design. However, the research on the integration of MSS design into PDPs is fragmented.

The research presented in this paper aims at developing a design process for MSSs in order to achieve systematic MSS design as well as its integration at an early stage of PDPs, thus allowing the MSS to be designed in parallel with the product and the rest of the production system. The research is based on literature studies as well as on two single qualitative case studies conducted at two companies within the automotive industry; an end producer and a first tier supplier.

An MSS design process has been developed, which is structured in accordance with the following phases: Planning, Concept development, System-level design, and Detail design. The MSS is modelled with materials flows as sub systems and six design areas as components. The six design areas are materials feeding, storage, transportation, handling, packaging, and manufacturing planning and control.

In this paper the design of materials supply systems in product development projects is discussed. Companies try to shorten the product development time by working with different development activities simultaneously, i.e. concurrent engineering. This means that the production system, involving the materials supply system, is developed in parallel with the product. Early verification is important in order to make the right design decisions.

A case study shows that it is difficult, early in a development project, to foresee what the consequences for the materials supply system and, accordingly, for the production system as a whole will be in operation. This insecurity is partly due to the difficulty in obtaining appropriate information at an early stage. The insecurity about the consequences results in difficulties in taking decisions about how the materials supply system should be designed. In addition, it is difficult for the logisticians to get attention for their point of view. It is also hard to survey the whole materials supply system, i.e. not only to focus on one single component, design question or process at a time. The case study shows that there is a lack of tools supporting such a holistic approach.

It is concluded that, in order to facilitate early problem discovery and early decision-making concerning the design of the materials supply system, there is a need for directions about how to obtain and use partial information.

Technology development is now very intense in several areas, and companies have much to gain from reaching the market with new technology and products ahead of their competitors. Therefore, companies try to shorten the product development time. This has accentuated the necessity of working with overlapping activities in development projects, which involves integrating the materials supply aspects at an early stage in product development projects in order to identify and solve problems.

This thesis deals with the design of the materials supply system in product development projects and is directed towards the evaluation of the materials supply system at an early stage in product development projects. The research is delimitated to materials supply for assembly of physically large products, produced in high volumes.

Empirical data have been gathered in three case studies. The results show that in order to improve the evaluation of materials supply systems in product development projects, new models and tools, together with appropriate work procedures, are needed. Four characteristics of the materials supply system in operation, namely: space needed for the materials supply, volumes and frequencies, inventory levels, and the investment in packaging, are shown to be important to assess at an early stage of as well as during product development projects. In addition, the results show that the models and tools must be able to utilise partial and incomplete data as well as to consider and handle uncertainty in the data used. The importance of transferring and using partial information, and the prerequisites for succeeding with this, is discussed.

The aim of this paper is to categorise difficulties related to release and use of information for materials supply systems design during product development projects as well as specific approaches to deal with them. In the literature it has been argued that materials supply systems design should form one dimension of concurrent engineering and be coordinated with product and production systems design although little research on how to manage it is presented. The research presented in this paper is based on multiple sources of data, mainly gathered by means of three case studies conducted at two companies from the automotive industry. The difficulties are categorised in terms of whether or not they are related to a concurrent engineering context. The approaches are categorised with regard to whether or not they focus on difficulties related to a concurrent engineering context, and whether or not they focus on the materials supply systems designers and their work.

The aim of this paper is to categorise difficulties related to release and use of information for materials supply systems design during product development projects as well as specific approaches to deal with them. In the literature it has been argued that materials supply systems design should form one dimension of concurrent engineering and be coordinated with product and production systems design although little research on how to manage it has been presented. The research presented in this paper is based on multiple sources of data, mainly gathered by means of three case studies conducted at two companies from the automotive industry. The difficulties are categorised in terms of whether or not they are related to a concurrent engineering context. The approaches are categorised with regard to whether or not they focus on difficulties related to a concurrent engineering context, and whether or not they focus on the materials supply systems designers and their work.

In this paper the design of materials supply systems in product development projects is discussed. Companies try to shorten the product development time by working with different development activities simultaneously, i.e. concurrent engineering. This means that the production system, involving the materials supply system, is developed in parallel with the product. Early verification is important in order to make the right design decisions.

A case study shows that it is difficult, early in a development project, to foresee what the consequences for the materials supply system and, accordingly, for the production system as a whole will be in operation. This insecurity is partly due to the difficulty in obtaining appropriate information at an early stage. The insecurity about the consequences results in difficulties in taking decisions about how the materials supply system should be designed. In addition, it is difficult for the logisticians to get attention for their point of view. It is also hard to survey the whole materials supply system, i.e. not only to focus on one single component, design question or process at a time. The case study shows that there is a lack of tools supporting such a holistic approach.

It is concluded that, in order to facilitate early problem discovery and early decision-making concerning the design of the materials supply system, there is a need for directions about how to obtain and use partial information.

This research aims at contributing to the knowledge of how to effectively and efficiently integrate materials supply system (MSS) design at an early stage of product development projects (PDPs) and how to effectively and efficiently design the MSS in parallel with the product and the rest of the production system. The increasing interest in and importance of shortening product development times have underlined the necessity of working with overlapping activities in PDPs, i.e. concurrent engineering. In the literature it has been argued that MSS design should form one dimension of concurrent engineering and be coordinated with product and production systems design, where preliminary and partial information is released and used as it emerges. However, the research on the integration of MSS design into PDPs is fragmented. It is limited to one MSS design area (e.g. packaging), to the discussion of some MSS design areas as parts of the production system without considering these in relation to PDPs, or else focuses on coordinating decisions related to one or a few specific questions at a time (e.g. postponement structure and product architecture) without any reference to PDPs.

The research presented in this thesis is based on literature studies on the subjects of materials supply, production systems design, design and development processes and PDPs as well as on three case studies conducted at two companies within the automotive industry; two studies at an end producer and one study at a first tier supplier.

An MSS design process has been developed in order to achieve systematic MSS design as well as its integration at an early stage of PDPs, thus allowing the MSS to be designed in parallel with the product and the rest of the production system. The design process is structured in accordance with the following phases: Planning, Concept development, System-level design, and Detail design. The MSS is modelled with materials flows as sub systems and six design areas as components. The six design areas are materials feeding, storage, transportation, handling, packaging, and manufacturing planning and control.

In addition, difficulties related to release and use of information for MSS design during PDPs as well as approaches for dealing with them are described and categorised. Attention is drawn to the fact that several of the difficulties experienced by MSS designers are not related to a concurrent engineering context with overlapping activities but to release and use of information between different departments on a more general level. It has also been underlined that responsibility for improving information management rests both with the MSS designers and with those who produce the information required for the MSS design as well as with the company as a whole.

This paper discusses the process of designing materials supply systems in product development projects. In the literature, the importance of success in new product development projects is stated. The structuring of new product development processes into some form of stage-gate process is advocated by many researchers and also widely used by companies. Much literature also states the necessity of shortening the time between concept and market for new products and highlights the need for working with overlapping activities in product development projects. The result presented in this paper is a structuring of the materials supply systems design process according to a stage-gate process. The structure was developed in close cooperation with a company within the automotive industry. The structure formalises the materials supply systems design process and facilitates the integration of materials supply aspects early on in product development projects. The materials supply systems design process is based on a general design method in order to further secure the quality of the design process.

Purpose – The objective of this research is to develop a structure for a materials supply systems (MSSs) design process to be used during product development projects (PDPs).

Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a qualitative study at a first tier supplier in the automotive industry. Empirical data were gathered over the course of one year and analysed by means of a previously developed MSSs design model and the company's product development phases.

Findings – A structure for a MSSs design process has been developed, based on the following four phases: planning, concept development, system-level design and detail design.

Research limitations/implications – Future research could further develop the structure discussed in this paper and complement it with engineering tools for use during the design process.

Practical implications – The results underline the importance of a MSSs design process and emphasise that such a process should cover activities at an early stage of PDPs. Moreover, the necessity of coordinating the specifications of the various materials flows and evaluating the entire MSS before becoming absorbed by detailed design issues is highlighted.

Originality/value – This paper complements the rapidly growing literature on concurrent engineering by emphasising the importance of integrating the materials supply aspects at an early stage of PDPs and designing the MSS in integration with the product and the production system.

This paper discusses the process of designing materials supply systems during product development projects with focus on the evaluation part. A case study was conducted in close cooperation with a company within the automotive industry. Two performance measures for the materials supply systems evaluation were selected, namely inventory value and handling required for the materials supply. The result from the case study is an analysis of how these performance measures can be assessed early in product development projects and how they can be used in the process of materials supply systems design.

The aim of this paper is to analyse how materials supply systems can be evaluated during product development projects in a concurrent engineering context. The focus is on performance assessment of materials supply systems and the input data required. A case study was conducted in close cooperation with a company and two performance measures were assessed during the concept definition phase and recalculated during the product and process validation phase. The results show that preliminary input data can be used to calculate performance measures by means of the following approaches: indicators, standards or scenarios. Furthermore, it is discussed how performance assessment can assist the materials supply systems design process in a concurrent engineering context by facilitating early problem discovery, early decision-making, and common understanding.

This paper shows the great importance of taking transportation costs into account when deciding on the shipment sizes. During the last few decades companies have tried to reduce their shipment sizes, in order to increase their inventory turnover rates. However, the transportation cost is hardly ever included as an explicit parameter in the shipment size decision. The results from a case study show that it is economically advantageous, in the perspective of the model applied, to increase the shipment sizes for many of the suppliers. These results are discussed together with the factors that act for smaller shipment sizes. One of the final conclusions is, however, that if the manufacturing and the materials flow systems were changed in order to take full advantage of smaller shipment sizes and less material in house, it would possibly be profitable to decrease the shipment sizes even more than has hitherto been done.

Purpose: This research aims to develop a model for describing and analysing materials supply systems design in product development projects.Design/methodology/approach: Literature on materials supply and production systems design is reviewed in order to derive a materials supply systems design model. The model is applied to empirical data from a qualitative case study, which exemplifies how the model can serve to describe materials supply systems design in product development projects. Moreover, the model is used to analyse the empirical data related to the focus and characteristics of the design issues.Findings: The model developed contains the six areas: materials feeding, storage, transportation, handling, packaging, and manufacturing planning and control at four levels: supply chain, plant, subunit, and utility.Research limitations/implications: Future research could complement the model by developing a design process to enable systematic design of the materials supply system as well as the integration of materials supply aspects at an early stage of product development projects. Such a design process should also consider the design of the flows of specific components.Practical implications: The importance of considering the relations between the six design areas as well as evaluating the whole materials supply system is highlighted.Originality/value: The paper focuses on the materials supply aspects dealt with in product development projects, which have been the subject of little research interest so far, despite the fact that extensive resources are required for materials supply activities.

This paper focuses on the design of materials supply systems in product development projects. In order to design the materials supply system in parallel with the product, product data must be available to the materials supply systems designers. The aim of this paper is to analyse the information quality of the required product data and to indicate how this information quality can be increased. Empirical data have been gathered through case studies conducted within the Manufacturing Industry. The empirical data show that it is possible to identify the product data required for materials supply systems design. It is also shown that there is an information gap between design engineering and materials supply systems design. The information quality of the required product data for the materials supply systems design has many imperfections, mainly in terms of accessibility, ease of operation, timeliness, understandability, interpretability, relevancy, and completeness. The information quality can be improved by the use of PDM systems, which are especially useful for facilitating an increase in accessibility, ease of operation, and timeliness.

There is an increasing focus on reducing time-to-market for new products and a prerequisite for succeeding in this is the ability to transfer and use information about the products early on in projects, thus facilitating early problem-solving. This paper focuses on the use of product data and information systems for the design of materials supply systems in product development projects. The results from a case study show that there are product data available at an early stage in the project. However, the product data have to be retrieved from several information systems and from information systems, which the materials supply systems designers cannot use. In addition, product data can be obtained by means of personal communication much earlier than they can be retrieved from the information systems. It is concluded that research and development are required so that the information systems can be utilised for early release as well as for early retrieval of preliminary information.

This paper focuses on the design of materials supply systems in product development projects. In order to design the materials supply system in parallel with the product, product data must be available to the materials supply systems designers. The aim of this paper is to discuss the information quality of the required product data and to indicate how this information quality can be increased. Empirical data have been gathered through studies conducted within the Manufacturing Industry.

The empirical data show many deficiencies related to information quality. In order to improve the information quality, the advantages provided by PDM-systems must be utilised. It is also essential that materials supply systems designers are able to state what product data they need as well as the form of the data. In addition, the current status of the product data must be provided, i.e. information about how much the data may change.

Decoupling thinking is a powerful tool that has helped companies to balance between short lead-times and low inventory holding costs but mainly with focus on production and distribution. The research presented in this paper shows the potential of using decoupling thinking also in new product development within manufacturing industry, mainly by combining decoupling thinking in the two dimensions of engineering and production, in line with Wikner och Rudberg (2005). This could be especially helpful for companies that struggle with long lead-times in both engineering and production but who cannot complete engineering before the customer order has been received.

Since supplier capabilities often are essential for the success of a new product, previous studies suggest manufacturers to integrate strategic sourcing into the early stages of their new product development (NPD) processes. However, the literature on this topic offers only limited guidance for manufacturers in the engineer-to-order (ETO) context, where late strategic sourcing can be inevitable due to, for example, uncertainty or changing customer requirements. To address this gap in the literature, this article first draws on the literature to conceptualize five distinct strategic sourcing approaches that ETO manufacturers can employ. The approaches differ in terms of the timing of three strategic sourcing activities during the NPD process: make-or-buy analysis, supplier selection and supplier collaboration. To investigate the approaches, we conducted an embedded single case study involving a large turbine manufacturer. The study supports the existence of all the strategic sourcing approaches and identifies distinct conditions associated with each of them. Thereby, this article extends the literature with additional clarity about strategic sourcing in the ETO context, as well as when different approaches occur.

The practice of ‘Design for Supply Chain’ (DfSC) aims at integrating strategic sourcing into manufacturers’ new product development (NPD) processes. The literature on this topic, however, mainly focuses on contexts involving high-volume, standardised products, while the engineer-to-order (ETO) context has received only limited attention. As argued in this paper, this constitutes a gap in the literature since the findings from high-volume, standardised contexts may not be directly applicable to the ETO context. To support this claim, a case study approach is used to explore DfSC in two ETO manufacturers. This paper terms this practice ‘Engineer for Supply Chain’ (EfSC) and identifies four dimensions that it comprises: (1) consideration of strategic sourcing in NPD, (2) representation of the sourcing function in NPD, (3) collaboration between the R&D and sourcing functions, and (4) adoption of methods for considering strategic sourcing in NPD. Although these dimensions partly overlap with the literature on DfSC, the characteristics of EfSC differ—most notably by requiring the consideration of strategic sourcing before the product design stage of NPD, as well as procedures that encourage this consideration. Finally, the study identifies relationships among the dimensions and develops a holistic four-step process for engaging with EfSC.

The purpose of this research is to provide a state-of-the-art overview of the supply chain design (SCD) activities that an OEM can perform when developing new products. This purpose is realized by systematically examining peer-reviewed journal articles written in English. The search strategy adopted in this research is based on selected databases and keywords. Crossreferencing is used to identify additional relevant articles. This resulted in a synthesis sample of 93 relevant articles. From this synthesis sample, a set of SCD activities that can be performed by OEMs during product development projects are extracted. These activities are discussed by using a subset articles (47) from the synthesis sample.

This paper explores how supply chains can be designed during product development (PD) through systematically reviewing 143 peer-reviewed journal articles written in English. The findings indicate that practitioners can perform 14 supply chain design (SCD) activities during PD. These activities are grouped into levels and areas, and a model is developed that interrelates SCD with nine product characteristics. Therewith, scholars are given a deep insight into the literature on SCD during PD. The paper also provides a framework for developing company- and project-specific checklists that can be used for multiple purposes, including planning, performing, or evaluating SCD activities before, during, or after PD projects. The implementation of the framework, according to the characteristics of a manufacturer and its PD projects, constitutes an opportunity for the creation of resilient supply chains.

In order to rapidly reach markets with new products, it is important for companies to first acquaint themselves with their product development processes and create an aggregated project plan. In this paper a framework developed within complex civil and structural construction projects is revised and applied to three cases within the manufacturing industry and combined with earlier research on product development. This resulted in new insights into potential configurations of companies’ product development activities regarding separating, sequencing, and overlapping of different processes. The application further showed that the case companies used separate development processes depending on the extent of customization.

The purpose is to develop a structured new product development (NPD) process portfolio for manufacturing companies that facilitates the organization of NPD processes for both standardized products, focusing on time-to-market, and customized products, focusing on time-to-customer. The research combines different literature streams, enriching and advancing the understanding of decoupling thinking in NPD processes of manufacturing companies. It includes extensive empirical data from six manufacturing companies and presents testable propositions for further research. The resulting NPD process portfolio separates technology development from product development, acknowledges the different drivers and outcomes of processes and addresses the lead-time trade-offs. It provides an overview of potential options for NPD processes and shows different pathways through the processes. Companies can use the portfolio to support decisions related to the overall configuration of their NPD portfolios, the role and the range of different NPD processes, as well as to determine when and how to engage customers.

Time, or elements of time, are frequently considered a core competitive advantage and affecting the financial situation of a company. However, the connection between lead-time and financial measures is not always obvious. Therefore, in this paper the conceptual relations between the strategic lead-times and the financial measure return on assets (ROA) are empirically investigated. The results from this research will help increase the understanding of lead-time as a critical resource and reduce the literature gap between strategic lead-times and financial measures. Furthermore, the result could be used by practitioners in evaluating supply chain design and prioritize alternatives based on profitability.

Tid och ledtid betraktas ofta som en konkurrensfördel samt påverkar ett företags ekonomiska situation. Sambandet mellan ledtid och finansiella nyckeltal är dock inte alltid självklart. I denna studie undersöktes därför empiriskt relationen mellan strategiska ledtider och det finansiella nyckeltalet ROA. Resultaten från denna studie bidrar till att öka förståelsen för ledtid som en kritisk egenskap samt minska det teoretiska gapet gällande sambandet mellan ledtid och finansiella nyckeltal. Resultaten kan vidare användas av företag vid utvärdering och prioritering av olika alternativ i försörjningskedjan.

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to describe the implications of strategic lead times (SLTs) for return oninvestment (ROI).

Design/methodology/approach – This study was part of an interactive research project and is based on thelogic of theory application leading to theory building. It uses a multiple case study with five holistic singlecases. Empirical data (ED) have mainly been collected from interviews and focus groups.

Findings – The length of and uncertainty in SLTs have implications for companies’ financial performance.These implications vary in strength and can be either direct or indirect. These findings are incorporated into aframework on SLTs’ implications for ROI.

Research limitations/implications – The presented array of SLTs’ implications for ROI could be furtherinvestigated, focussing on their strength. Additionally, it would be interesting to substantiate the findings inthe context of environmental and social sustainability (i.e. the triple bottom line).

Practical implications – The findings offer practitioners a rich description and understanding of SLTs’actual implications for financial performance in terms of ROI. This knowledge can support practitioners inanalysing supply chain designs based on financial performance.

Originality/value – Using a combination of a relative financial performance measure (ROI) and a set of SLTs(systems perspective), this study focuses on SLTs’ actual implications for ROI. The findings provide evidencethat different sections of a supply chain can have different implications for revenue, cost and investment (i.e. thethree absolute measures related to ROI).

Purpose

The integration of supply chains together with the disintegration of individual actors in the supply chain shifts the focus from actors to challenges in the interaction between actors. This paper sets out to identify risk strategies for different supplier interactions in triadic configurations, in order to outline supply strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

Companies participating in a research project recounted the challenges they faced regarding the integration of customer order-based management and supply from a triad perspective. Six triad configurations were identified, based on the literature, resulting in three risk strategies, which were empirically illustrated in practice by the participating companies.

Findings

A key finding is that a triad perspective for a customer-differentiated approach to supplier interaction results in a material classification that highlights the circumstances in which to apply ‘balance efficiency’, ‘postpone’, ‘balance responsiveness’ and ‘speculate’ supply strategies.

Research limitations/implications

The research has focused on process drivers and controllability and the results may require careful interpretation when there is a mix of standardized and customized products since further interaction differentiation then may be required.

Practical implications

The strategies developed herein provide guidelines for differentiated supplier interaction with explicit focus on triads where customer actors directly influence supplier actors. This approach highlights how outsourcing must be carefully executed when supplier actors are involved in delivery to customer orders.

Originality/value

The paper sheds new light on how customer requirements impact supplier interaction in terms of decoupling points related to both delivery strategy and control strategy. The study also presents a novel application of the Kraljic matrix in in terms of risk strategies in different triad configurations.

Leagility is a strategic concept that represents a combination of lean and agile. Lean is assumed to be a cost-based strategy that is appropriate in a forecast-driven context upstream of the customer order decoupling point (CODP). Agile is the corresponding flexibility-based strategy in a customer-order-driven context downstream of the CODP. Competitive advantage is based on that the position of the CODP is aligned with the market requirements. In a dyad setting this alignment can be realized with relative ease but in a triad setting it becomes more complicated if both supply actors pursue a leagile strategy. If lean based purchasing faces an agile based delivery strategy or the opposite, where agile based purchasing faces a lean based delivery strategy, the interface is misaligned. In this paper, four interface configurations are identified and empirical examples of each are given based on a case study.

The ideal state of continuous one-piece flow may never be achieved. Still the logistics manager can improve the flow by carefully positioning inventory to buffer against variations. Strategies such as lean, postponement, mass customization, and outsourcing all rely on strategic positioning of decoupling points to separate forecast-driven from customer-order-driven flows. Planning and scheduling of the flow are also based on classification of decoupling points as master scheduled or not. A comprehensive classification scheme for these types of decoupling points is introduced. The approach rests on identification of flows as being either demand based or supply based. The demand or supply is then combined with exogenous factors, classified as independent, or endogenous factors, classified as dependent. As a result, eight types of strategic as well as tactical decoupling points are identified resulting in a process-based framework for inventory classification that can be used for flow design.

Purpose of this paper

The purpose of this paper is to develop a process based approach for inventory classification that can provide operational support and also offer a baseline for evaluation of inventory management across different delivery strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is based on a literature overview and deductive conceptual model development.

Findings

Taking a process approach to inventory management highlights the drivers of different types of decoupling points. This approach paves the way to a process based classification using endogenous and exogenous factors of supply and demand as key drivers of inventory classification, enabling a more generic approach to inventory management across different delivery strategies such as make-to-stock and assemble-to-order.

Research limitations/implications

Process based inventory classification does not provide improved support for an accounting driven perspective of inventory but provides a complementary operational focus. Future work involves empirical research using this classification as a foundation.

Practical implications

Inventory classifications are frequently based on the materials flows, e.g. raw materials, work in process, and finished goods) or volume (e.g. standard ABC inventory management). A process based classification is, however, of practical use in a set of contexts usually not emphasized by present methods.

What is original/value of paper

A new approach to inventory classification is presented which in contrast with most present standard techniques emphasizes a process based perspective. The technique is therefore well aligned with the key perspective of operations and supply chain management involving the balancing of supply and demand in replenishment and fulfilment processes.