Using and extended enterprise model to increase responsiveness

OEMinc's new business model is a dramatic departure from that used in the past. The company has moved steadily upstream in the supply chain, leaving more and more of the manufacturing effort to suppliers. Literature shows that extraordinary productivity gains in the production network, or value chain, are possible when companies are willing to collaborate in unique ways, often achieving competitive advantage by sharing knowledge, research and assets. For its newest product, Excelsior, OEMinc has moved to an extended enterprise model involving dozens of Partners. Approximately half are Component Partners (CPs), who supply systems and components. The remainder are Assembly Partner's (APs), who integrate these components into sub-assemblies. Many components are purchased by OEMinc and drop-shipped by CPs to APs, then installed in subassemblies. For the purposes of this analysis, Critical Safety Inventory is defined as inventory held at a site that buffers against disruptions in quality or upstream delivery and is not needed for production at that time.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• MacDonald, Ian A., M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Joel P. Clark and Charles Fine.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Materials Science and Engineering.
• 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/1721.1/37250

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37250