Fast, flexible and cooperative supply Chains—key issues for the survival of European industry

Abstract

The future of the European industry is in its capability to innovate and upgrade. This requirement concerns products, manufacturing and the underlying support systems ranging from organizational arrangements down to decision support systems. Europe has a desperate need for effective and flexible innovation, improving industrial infrastructure where the most value-adding nodes of the supply chains are those in the roles of subcontractors on the one hand and distributors on the other. The necessary managerial changes (such as JIT, lean manufacturing and simultaneous engineering) have so far just superficially influenced these crucial nodes. It can be estimated that by responsive customer-driven supply chains the profitability of these chains could be improved drastically. This potential for improvement is based on the reduction of inventory-carrying costs, reduction of indirect and direct labour costs and the increase of sales and sales margins via better delivery performance at the operative level and a reduction in time-to-market at the tactical and strategic levels. As a necessary prerequisite for responsive supply chains in many branches, reorganization of the supply chains in both the manufacturing and distribution ends of these chains is needed.

Keywords:

• supply chain management
• logistics
• multi-supplier operations
• lime-based management
• supplier management