Home || Manufacturing Systems Engineering ||College of Engineering||UW Madison ||Contact & Directions
What is QRM? | QRM in the News | Industry Partners | Projects | Members Say | Publications | Join Center|Staff
Filling The Gap
Rethinking supply management in the age of global sourcing and lean
by Paul D. Ericksen, Rajan Suri, Bash'shar El-Jawhari, Aaron J. ArmstrongAPICS magazine
February 2005
For many OEMs, order fulfillment &mdash being able to deliver product to market quickly and flexibly &mdash has been dramatically affected by lean initiatives, global sourcing and asset reduction. OEMs no longer have nearby suppliers, and asset-reduction initiatives have led them to adopt build-to-demand strategies. Suppliers struggle to efficiently and quickly produce fluctuating quantities and the often broad mix of products required by today's OEMs.
While global sourcing and asset reduction can lead to significant financial improvements, they also pose order fulfillment risk. How can manufacturers and suppliers fill the gap between operating lean and yet get the product to customers when they are ready to buy?
Read this article to learn how MCT &mdash Manufacturing Critical-path Time &mdash and Quick Response Manufacturing are responding to this dilemma.
