Inter-company collaboration within a large lean supply chain initiative

Cisco and its four contract manufacturing partners are collaborating to implement a lean replenishment methodology across their supply chain. The new system is expected to result in minimized inventory exposure, increased supply chain flexibility, and improved speed to customer. Implementation of such a large standardized initiative requires close collaboration within and between multiple companies which makes it even more complex. Understanding the current state of collaboration within such a large initiative will enable improvements for future inter-company initiatives. This work analyses how Cisco and Flextronics collaborate within this large joint initiative. The analysis utilizes a combination of process mapping and known frameworks for organizational and cross company collaboration analysis. In addition, a dynamic supply chain simulation addressing a particular concern within the initiative is provided. Based on this characterization recommendations for how Cisco and Flextronics can improve collaboration for future joint initiatives are made.

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

• Mentzer, Maria Ritums

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Charles Fine and David Simchi-Levi.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Civil and Environmental 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/1721.1/49794

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/49794