Paul Childerhouse

Analysis and design of focused demand chains

The paper describes the evolution of focused demand chains over an extended period of time as a major UK lighting manufacturer has sought to remain an international player in a fast changing business environment. Analysis and design procedures make use of the concepts of Wickham Skinner and Marshall Fisher to answer the strategic questions “what facilities are required and how should they be laid out to enable the necessary focused demand chains?” and to answer the tactical question “which focused demand chain is appropriate for this product?” The case study then details how the company has been transformed from operating within a traditional supply chain to driving change via the engineering of four focused demand chains. The paper concludes with a comparison of operations enablers, customer choice, and business performance metrics covering the transition period culminating in the current focused demand chain scenario. By matching products to the appropriate value stream there is a consequential reduction in product development time of 75%; manufacturing costs reduction of up to 27%; and up to 95% reduction in delivery lead times.

The impact of product life cycle on supply chain strategy

In order to compete in todays highly competitive marketplace supply chains must be engineered to match product characteristics and customer requirements. As products proceed through their life cycles these requirements dramatically change. Consequently supply chain strategies must be dynamically matched so as to maximise competitiveness. This paper demonstrates how an innovative UK lighting company re-engineered its supply chain to accommodate the impact of product life cycles. The key to their success is the ability to classify products and develop appropriate supply chain strategies. Careful matching of products to pipelines thereby enables maximisation of the appropriate order winner and market qualifier characteristics. The classification system used enables generic modelling of the methodology and hence potential for use in other market sectors.

Simplified material flow holds the key to supply chain integration

Many organisations are evaluating their supply chains because they are perceived to be an area for both cost cutting and increasing competitiveness. The objective is apparently very simple; optimise the supply chain via effective and efficient operating practices. This paper will demonstrate via the statistical analysis of 32 industrial case studies that the route to this desired fully integrated, effective supply chain is long established. The solution has been renamed, repackaged and adapted many times over the years, but what remains constant are the underlying principles of simplified material flow. The output of this paper includes the vision, design principles, and rules for action needed to enable effective supply chain integration.

Engineering supply chains to match customer requirements

Modern day market places are highly varied and cannot be serviced effectively by a single supply chain paradigm. Consequently products and services must be provided to the end consumer via tailored supply chain strategies. This article categorises consumer products and details the specific supply chain management tools and techniques required to service each. A comparison of lean and agile strategies is provided along with a detailed explanation of the integration of the two within a Leagile supply chain. The application of such a strategy for electronic products is provided via a four stage case study. A route map for engineering supply chains to match customer requirements is developed in order to avoid costly and ineffective mismatches of supply chain strategy to product characteristics.

A supply chain diagnostic methodology: determining the vector of change

The paper presents a guide to conduct a supply chain oriented business diagnostic or health check termed Quick Scan. The Quick Scan is a systematic approach to the collection and synthesis of qualitative and quantitative data from a supply chain. The Quick Scan approach is the initial step in a generic methodology to identifying the change management opportunities in the supply chain. The paper highlights the need for adequate analysis of the supply chain before embarking on the route of information and communication technology implementation. As well as being of operational benefit to specific companies the Quick Scan may also be utilised to develop generic research models of supply chain change. The results of the application of the methodology to twenty European automotive supply chain value streams are evaluated. The results show that only 10% of automotive supply chains are close to the goal of an integrated supply chain, whilst only 30% of supply chains exhibit much good practice. The remainder are still struggling to implement lean production techniques, which is a common preoccupation with many automotive industry executives. The Quick Scan is thus able to advise companies in terms of the direction and magnitude of change required in their supply chains.

Choice and delivery in housebuilding: lessons from Japan for UK housebuilders

Using the example of Japans factory-based housing industry where firms supply customized homes which are pre-assembled from standardized components or modular systems, it is argued that ‘mass customization’ can be supported by several generic supply-chain models. The paper discusses these models and provides a case study of a Japanese housing supplier. Conclusions are then drawn on the implications of these lessons for the UKs speculative housebuilding industry. Reprenant lexemple de lindustrie japonaise du logement préfabriqué qui fournit des logements personnalisés pré-assemblés à partir de composants normalisés ou de systèmes modulaires, lauteur prétend que la personnalisation en se rie des produits est possible grâce à plusieurs modèles génériques de chaînes dapprovisionnement. Cet article décrit ces modèles et présente une étude de cas dun fournisseur japonais de logements. Lauteur tire des conclusions quant aux implications de cette expérience pour le secteur spéculatif de la construction de logements au Royaume-Uni.

Information flow in automotive supply chains - identifying and learning to overcome barriers to change

Improving competitive advantage to the first‐tier echelon of automotive supply chains is enabled via the requirement for transparent information flows in both the order‐generating and order fulfilment channels. However, four generic areas are identified which are barriers to improving performance. These are cultural (is it in our interests?); organisational (does the supply chain have the right structure?); technological (what common format and standards are required?); and financial (who pays the bill?). How these barriers may be overcome to the benefit of all “players” in the chain is discussed, plus benchmarking of current best practice. Exemplar supply chains are identified as noteworthy for the emergence of supply chain “product champions”. These have the vision, authority, and drive to implement new systems and set in place mechanisms to minimise regression to old working practices.

Information flow in automotive supply chains – present industrial practice

The automotive industry acts as a barometer and flagship of the national economy. First tier suppliers are essential enablers in the success of the sector. Here we identify present practices concerning information flow as perceived by typical first tier suppliers. Observations are made via “top pain analysis” facing an individual supplier and “quick scan analysis” on a range of automotive value streams. Major information flow weaknesses encountered in real‐world value streams are highlighted. To conclude, we show the “well‐trodden path” established for performance improvement as enabled in real‐world supply chains.

Reducing uncertainty in European supply chains

In this paper, we show that reducing supply chain uncertainty increases responsiveness and thereby benefits bottom line performance as assessed via total cycle time reduction. We term this effect as the uncertainty reduction principle. To enable uncertainty reduction we use the uncertainty circle to focus on the sources to be eliminated. We also show that these sources of uncertainty can react and magnify in a flywheel effect caused by poor supply chain management. A supply chain audit methodology is described for identifying and codifying uncertainty. The proposition advanced herein is that smooth material flow leads to and statistically correlates with uncertainty reduction. Examples are given of good real‐world supply chain practices thus identified and subsequently improved. Transferability of the uncertainty reduction principle is assured by establishing readily assimilated “best practice” guidelines via the study of “exemplar” operating characteristics.

Speeding up the progress curve towards effective supply chain management

Introduces a supply chain “health check” procedure successfully applied in the European automotive sector and presents the results for the analysis of 20 trans-European value streams covering a wide range of first and second tier suppliers. The health check procedure is activated via a quick scan methodology (QSM) requiring execution by a multi-disciplinary team working on-site. The degree of integration within the value chain is estimated by the QS team, using the uncertainty circle concept which apportions observed uncertainties in the product delivery process (PDP) according to source. In our experience the four major contributors are: the demand side; supply side; value added process side; and systems controls. The results clearly demonstrate a well-trodden and hence proven route for value stream performance improvement. They also identify value chain exemplars and many areas of best practice, but most importantly they provide a list of actions focused on improving the performance of individual value streams. Properly applied, re-engineering programmes based on these trigger points will speed up the progress curve towards effective supply chain management.