Supply chain design and site selection for the expansion of international manufacturing capacity

The research conducted for this thesis was performed at "Company X", a U.S.-based engineered goods manufacturer. This project focused on Company X's overall manufacturing strategy, with an emphasis on how global expansion of manufacturing can allow the company to achieve greater international sales growth. Company X's current strategy for supplying non-U.S. markets has largely relied on U.S. manufacturing and assembly, followed by exporting of finished goods. Due to a desire to increase international sales and a need to address tariff and non-tariff barriers in certain key markets, Company X must now evaluate opportunities for in-country manufacturing and assembly in its target markets. This project seeks to evaluate the high-level financial and operational risks of expanding Company X's current manufacturing operations through the use of three types of analysis: 1) A single-site cost analysis of material and inventory flow to an international site; 2) A global manufacturing capacity plan to serve regional markets; and, 3) An evaluation of qualitative risk factors affecting potential site selection. The single-site model involves the development of a simplified cost model. This model demonstrates the cost-competitiveness of each supply chain design alternative for serving a single international site, including the sensitivity of the model to changes in key cost drivers. The global model builds on the results of the single-site model and evaluates the opportunities for international sites to serve both in-country and regional demand for the top markets Company X is targeting.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Constantine, Aimée E. (Aimée Elizabeth)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David Simchi-Levi and Donald Rosenfield.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Engineering Systems Division.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49782

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/49782