“What is the Right Supply Chain for Your Product?”, “Aligning Supply Chain Strategies with Product Uncertainties”, and “Leagility: Integrating the lean and agile manufacturing paradigms in the total supply chain.” Three similar articles with subtle differences, when read in the above order, they almost appear to be a continuation of the previous article.
“What is the Right Supply Chain for Your Product?” by Marshall L. Fisher, focuses on four main topics and their relationship to each other. The first two topics relate to a type of product, functional or innovative. In this example, functional products have a predictable demand and a long product life cycle. They also have low product variety, low average margins, low percentage of forced …show more content…
Similar to an innovative product-responsive process, the buy-to-order strategy is characterized as having very unique products that require long lead times. They also hold low stock levels and are slow to respond to new markets. The next strategy is make-to-order. This strategy has slightly more differentiation amongst its products, but they generally use the same raw materials. This slightly reduces lead times and still allows for high customization. Next is the Assemble-to-order strategy. This strategy considerably reduces lead times while still providing a varied mix of products. Due to the shift from lean to agile manufacturing taking place at the manufacturer or assembler in this strategy, this risk of overstock or shortages is increased but the risk is still less than when the products are already completed. The make-to-stock and ship-to-stock strategies are similar to the functional products-efficient process described by Fisher. While the make-to-order strategy has demand from varied locations, the ship-to-order strategy has standard products in fixed locations. In order to avoid stock-outs and overstock, both strategies require accurate forecast of demand.
As Fisher asked in the first article, what is the right supply chain for your product? To answer this, first we must define what are the characteristics of the supply and demand for the product? How mature is or supply chain? How long can we postpone differentiation in our products? If we can answer all of these questions, we just might have the ultimate answer for Fisher’s original
“What is the Right Supply Chain for Your Product?” by Marshall L. Fisher, focuses on four main topics and their relationship to each other. The first two topics relate to a type of product, functional or innovative. In this example, functional products have a predictable demand and a long product life cycle. They also have low product variety, low average margins, low percentage of forced …show more content…
Similar to an innovative product-responsive process, the buy-to-order strategy is characterized as having very unique products that require long lead times. They also hold low stock levels and are slow to respond to new markets. The next strategy is make-to-order. This strategy has slightly more differentiation amongst its products, but they generally use the same raw materials. This slightly reduces lead times and still allows for high customization. Next is the Assemble-to-order strategy. This strategy considerably reduces lead times while still providing a varied mix of products. Due to the shift from lean to agile manufacturing taking place at the manufacturer or assembler in this strategy, this risk of overstock or shortages is increased but the risk is still less than when the products are already completed. The make-to-stock and ship-to-stock strategies are similar to the functional products-efficient process described by Fisher. While the make-to-order strategy has demand from varied locations, the ship-to-order strategy has standard products in fixed locations. In order to avoid stock-outs and overstock, both strategies require accurate forecast of demand.
As Fisher asked in the first article, what is the right supply chain for your product? To answer this, first we must define what are the characteristics of the supply and demand for the product? How mature is or supply chain? How long can we postpone differentiation in our products? If we can answer all of these questions, we just might have the ultimate answer for Fisher’s original