...OBJECTIVE & SCOPE OF STUDY6 MASS CUSTOMISATION7 INDUSTRIES PRACTICING MASS CUSTOMISATION9 CONCLUSION10 REFRENCES11 1. INTRODUCTION With growth in globalization opportunities, and shortening of product life cycles, firms are increasingly being challenged with requirements to proliferate product variety. In this attempt to meet the varied requirements of customers worldwide, mass customization has become an important requirement for many businesses. Provisioning of mass customisation, however, has its pitfalls. Forecasting gets complex, overhead for product support increases, inventory control becomes more difficult, manufacturing complexity upsurges, and after-sales support gets more challenging. Mass customization is a manufacturing process that combines the flexibility of customised product variety, along with the low cost leadership of economies of scale. 2. BACKGROUND OF STUDY To the problems thrown by mass customisation, many solutions exist. One solution that pioneering firms have utilised is the influence of product and process designing. This is rendered possible by incorporating design in their supply chain operations, to seek control over product variety expansion. Design has always been viewed as a central driver of manufacturing costs. As high as eighty percent of the manufacturing cost is decided by the design, or the process through which the product is to be developed. Therefore, design can be leveraged to solve the problem of mass customization (Martin M., W...
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...Topic: When a distributor is a dominant player in a supply chain it faces many risks. Discuss the potential strategies that a dominant distributor might implement to a) retain its position of dominance and b) benefit the total supply chain. Supply Chain Management – Distributor’s risk and strategies to retain dominance whilst value adding to the total supply chain Introduction The supply chain is made up of many key players; from the top we have the suppliers which provide raw materials (or finished parts) to the manufacturers who carry out required assembly to produce the products the market demands. The distributor collects these finished products from the manufacture and provides a logistical link to the retailers who sells at the local market and provide convenience to the consumers. At every stage of the supply chain the each player carries out activities that add values to the product until it reaches the end user (Porter, 1985). The key players are linked together and are interdependent on each other (both upstream and downstream) as they rely on each other not just for profit but to achieve the overall effect of the supply chain to meet consumer demands. However the level of an organisation’s dependency on one another varies from relationship to relationship within the supply chain. As a result dominant players within a supply chain can greatly influence the other players to achieve perpetual dominance and/or mutually benefit all players, (Maloni et al....
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...Part A: Literature Review Logistic systems and supply chains are continuously impacted by a multitude of internal and external variables. These variables include globalisation, shorter product life-cycles, technological advances, the development of electronic supply chains (ESC), increased communication, breakdowns of trade barriers, development of national economies and ever continuing efficiency improvements in transportation, manufacturing and communication (Gunaskeran, Patel & McGaughey 2004, Persson 1991). These factors can make creating and sustaining competitive advantage in supply chain management (SCM) a complicated and difficult task (Cavinato 1992, Persson 1991, Mehrjerdi 2009). A range of measures of supply chain competitiveness have been developed throughout SCM literature. Bhatangar & Sohal (2005, pg. 445) stated that there are “no stable set of measures that can be used for assessing the performance of the supply chain” (Lee & Billington 1992, Gunaskeran et al 2004). The pair constructed a framework (see Appendix A) that categorises and combines many of the concepts developed in the literature surrounding the competitiveness of supply chains. Gunaskeran et al (2004) also developed a framework for measuring performance in terms of strategic, tactical and operational levels of supply chain activity (See Appendix B). Developments in the perceptions of SCM are moving from a basic, purely cost approach to one of value-adding and non-cost measures such as customer satisfaction...
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...African Journal of Business Management Vol. 5(4), pp. 1266-1276, 18 February, 2011 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJBM ISSN 1993-8233 ©2011 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Challenges and opportunities of Tanzanian SMEs in adapting supply chain management Sama Hamisi Procurement and Supplies Department, College of Business Education, Dodoma Campus, Dodoma, P. O. Box 2077, Tanzania. E-mail: samakicheche@yahoo.com. Tel: +255 755 292 850. Fax: +255 026 232 2121. Accepted 19 November, 2010 Around the globe, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have acquired a significant and pivotal position in the entire economic development process. Over the years, this sector had played a critical role in developing Tanzanian economy through creation of employment opportunities, income generation, equitable distribution of income whence contributing towards poverty alleviation. However, this sector suffers a number of challenges in domestic and global market competition, though, varieties of opportunities in adapting supply chain management exists. In today’s context of fast changing and dynamic economy and dominance of global supply chain systems, the SMEs in Tanzania, besides facing traditional hardships in finance, they misalliance the phenomenon of supply chain management thus fails to find proper place in the domestic and global supply chain leaving TNCs and MNCs to have a greater dominance. As Tanzania’s economic policy is about-turn...
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...Robert Johnston Stuart Chambers Christine Harland Alan Harrison Nigel Slack Cases in Operations Management third edition Cases in Operations Management We work with leading authors to develop the strongest educational materials in operations management, bringing cutting-edge thinking and best learning practice to a global market. Under a range of well-known imprints, including Financial Times Prentice Hall, we craft high quality print and electronic publications which help readers to understand and apply their content, whether studying or at work. To find out more about the complete range of our publishing, please visit us on the World Wide Web at: www.pearsoneduc.com THIRD EDITION Cases in Operations Management Robert Johnston Warwick Business School, University of Warwick Stuart Chambers Warwick Business School, University of Warwick Christine Harland School of Management, University of Bath Alan Harrison Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University Nigel Slack Warwick Business School, University of Warwick Pearson Education Limited Edinburgh Gate Harlow Essex CM20 2JE United Kingdom and Associated Companies throughout the world Visit us on the World Wide Web at: www.pearsoned.co.uk First published 1993 Second published 1997 Third Edition 2003 © Robert Johnston, Stuart Chambers, Christine Harland, Alan Harrison and Nigel Slack 1993, 2003 The rights of Robert Johnston, Stuart Chambers, Christine Harland, Alan Harrison...
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...This page intentionally left blank Business Performance Measurement Drawing together contributions from leading thinkers around the world, this book reviews recent developments in the theory and practice of performance measurement and management. Significantly updated and modified from the first edition, the book includes ten new chapters that provide a comprehensive review of performance measurement from the perspectives of accounting, marketing, operations, public services and supply chain management. In addition to these functional analyses the book explores performance measurement frameworks and methodologies, practicalities and challenges, and enduring questions and issues. Edited by one of the world’s leading experts on performance measurement and management, Business Performance Measurement will be of interest to graduate students, managers and researchers who wish to understand more about the latest developments in this rapidly changing field. Andy Neely is Deputy Director of the ESRC/EPSRC AIM Research initiative, Professor of Operations Strategy and Performance at Cranfield School of Management, and Visiting Professor of Operations Management at London Business School. Business Performance Measurement Unifying theories and integrating practice Second edition Edited by Andy Neely CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge...
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