Optimizing Supply Chains: A Life Cycle Perspective
Abstract:
In this presentation we provide an overview of generic findings regarding the optimization of supply chains from a life cycle perspective. This overview is based on two decades of extensive collaboration with industry and seed research on generic principles on the design, planning and control of supply chains. The life cycle perspective used distinguishes between the growth phase, mature phase, decline phase, and after-production phase. We discuss both the initial supply chain, that manufactures and distributes the product to the market, and the service supply chain, that ensures the product functions according to specification. As a means to communicate our main findings we use the concept of efficient frontier. The efficient frontier marks the boundary of possible combinations of capital investment and operational supply chain performance for given technological capabilities and market conditions. It is the operational performance objective that distinguishes initial supply chains from service supply chains. We discuss the linkages between the initial supply chain and the service supply chain. The findings are illustrated with real-life cases from high-volume electronics and capital goods.