A global sourcing strategy for durable tooling

Competitive pressures in manufacturing industries have led to an increased utilization of strategic sourcing initiatives: among them is low cost sourcing. While low cost sourcing has been used extensively for direct materials, the penetration of low cost sourcing in indirect materials is small. This thesis develops a global sourcing strategy for durable tooling and a methodology to help firms determine the best sourcing alternative for indirect materials. A low cost sourcing study done at Carrier compares the landed cost and quality of sheet metal stamping dies sourced from both China and the U.S. The study estimates that there is an opportunity to save 25-50% from low cost sourcing without compromising quality. The sourcing strategy presents a framework for: 1) determining whether to source durable tooling locally, regionally or globally, and 2) for comparing the return (using total cost of ownership) and risk (country/regional) of sourcing alternatives. The primary deliverable of this research is a standard work process which integrates the durable tooling sourcing strategy into Carrier's current product development process. The product development process manages a product's lifecycle from concept to launch.

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

• Vasovski, Steven

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Jonathan Byrnes and Duane S. Boning.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
• 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/1721.1/37941

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37941