Jenny Bäckstrand

Time-phasing and decoupling points as analytical tools for purchasing

Customization and customer-driven manufacturing are both explicitly based on end-customer relations and customer requirements. The impact of these aspects on internal operations is relatively well known and can be investigated using time phasing and decoupling points. These tools are however rarely used for analyzing purchased material. Based on the time phased product structure, items are categorized according to three criteria: driver, uniqueness, and make/buy. Purchased items can thus be identified using the last criteria and then driver and uniqueness are used as a point of departure for categorizing purchased material. The approach hence provides a platform for development of supplier relations based on the customer requirements which is the core theme of the method for customer-driven purchasing.

Customer-differentiated triadic interaction based on decoupling points

PurposeThe 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 ...

Triadic perspective on customization and supplier interaction in customer-driven manufacturing

Abstract Customization and customer-driven manufacturing are both explicitly based on the focal actor’s interaction with the customer actor. The impact of these aspects on the internal operations of the focal actor is relatively well known compared to the limited number of studies performed on the impact on the focal actor’s supplier. The purpose here is therefore to investigate how the concept of customization complements the concept of customer-driven and how customer requirements affect interaction between a supplier and the supplier’s supplier in a triad. Frameworks for different perspectives are developed where match and mismatch between the actors on the perception of flow driver and flow differentiation is highlighted. The frameworks are then applied on a case company to illustrate application.

Leagility in a triad with multiple decoupling points

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.

Alignment of the Purchasing Strategy to the Business Strategy: An Empirical Study on a Harbour Cranes Company

The purchasing function is assuming an increasingly relevant role within companies in the last decades. This is due to a fact that purchasing strategy can contribute to develop competitive advantages. Therefore, it is important to align the purchasing strategy with the company business strategy. On the other hand, category management can be used as the basic unit of strategic purchasing analysis, which measures the competitive improvement in purchasing management. It its known that a differentiated purchasing strategy involves managing suppliers within the different categories, so that, it is considered that there should be a leadership to level category by purchasing managers to improve the company competitiveness. Hence, this paper contributes by presenting how aligned business and purchasing strategies and product categorization leads to increased competitiveness –by presenting an empirical study on a harbor cranes company.