Lead time flexibility

Reliability (on time/on budget) Continuous improvement Risk sharing Capacity and lead time Flexibility Communication... 

If the consolidation center works as a trading company, it needs to monitor the suppliers delivery performance in terms of shortage history, on-time delivery, lead-time, flexibility with respect to volume changes, and so forth. 

Chamsirisakskul et al. [17] study the benefits of lead time flexibility (the willingness of the customers to accept longer lead times) to the manufacturer in an offline setting with 100% service guarantees. They consider a discrete set of prices, ..., the manufacturer can charge for order j. The demand... 

K. Chamsirisakskul, P. Griffin, and P. Keskinocak. Order selection and scheduling with lead-time flexibility. Working Paper, ISYE, Georgia Institute of Technology. 

Market qualifying criteria Lead time Flexibility Lead time Quality Leagile Cost Lead time... 

Quality, cost, availability, lead-time, flexibility... 

Related to competitiveness measures - improved quality, compressed lead time, reduced life-cycle costs, increased flexibility, improved productivity, more satisfied customers... 

The relaxation variables focus on the front-end of the value chain in sales and distribution excluding production and procurement due to the commodity value chain characteristics with long production lead times and less flexibility in the backend. Of course, it is possible to have relaxation variables for all constraints and areas of the value chain. However, this would lead to higher complexity for the planner as well as longer solution times with more integer variables. Therefore, relaxation is kept limited. 

It is always difficult to provide the pharmacist with sufficient information to facilitate manufacture of an optimal formulation. The dose range of interest is not known, and careful consideration should be given to selection of unit doses that will provide the greatest flexibility. Good communication is essential and adequate lead time must be allowed. Compounds with poor absorption are difficult to formulate and may take considerable time and resources. Repeated in vitro and in vivo testing in animals may be required before a satisfactory formulation is found. 

Study specific unpredictable requires significant lead times Very high without profit Abbreviated system Flexible interpretation loosely enforced... 

In the last six years we have witnessed several small companies entering the field of ionic liquids. The leading players in this field today, such as Degussa, BASF, Merck and Solvent Innovation have further increased their capacities within the last two years and have in-house production capacities for ionic liquids on the multi-ton level. Hence, those companies which are flexible in production campaign scheduling have reduced the lead-time for standard ionic liquids, even on ton scales, to a few weeks. 

The ERP system is to interface with my laboratory system and provide Internet links with my customers and suppliers.. .. I expect to be able to reduce my inventory, reduce lead times and IT [information technology] support costs, and install a system which flexible in the face of changing market conditions. 

An assemble-to-order (ATO) system is a hybrid model of biuld-to-stock at the component (subassembly) level and assemble-to-order for the end product. In an ATO system, typically, the components take a substantial lead time to buUd, whereas the time it takes to assemble all the components into the final product is often negligible. Hence, keeping stock at the component level improves responsetime performance, whereas not keeping any end-product inventory reduces inventory cost and maximizes the flexibility for customization. A good example of an ATO system is the production of a PC (personal computer). Other examples include fast-food operations and many mail-order or e-commerce services. 

The book supply chain involves the printer, the wholesaler, the retail store, and the customer. Ownership of this supply chain is fragmented, with each entity s success based on different metrics. For printers to be competitive, they must have large-volume press runs that economize printing costs. Capacity decisions are made by retailer and wholesaler and determine the level of inventory and lead time to satisfy demand. Coordination between wholesaler and retailer depends on the flexibility offered for books to be returned from the retailer to the wholesaler. At the store level, competitiveness requires a large variety of books to be in stock, the flexibility for the customer to browse books before purchase, accessible locations, and other factors. The wholesaler has to be flexible to accommodate bookstore returns. The flexibility to return books provides the incentive for the bookstore to order efficient quantities from the supply chain. 

When decisions are made regarding long-term capacity and network structure, it may be useful to consider possible future changes in the demand or cost scenarios when making choices. Assuming that once capacity is eliminated, it cannot be recovered easily (except after a long lead time), the reduced capacity levels may prevent access to the benefits that could accrue from having the flexibility to adapt product flows to match cost or demand levels at a future point in time. 

Thus, as long as the pooled order stream can be served by any location, at the same rate, lead time is deo-eased by about 50% with the same capacity. This is the benefit of pooling capacity in a supply chain. But how did the same capacity, deployed differently, have such a significant impact on performanc e Notic e that in a pooled capacity system, any available unit of capacity can be used to satisfy a waiting order. This flexibility to use a larger pool of capacity at any time prevents queues, improving the performance of the supply chain. 

For shippers and transportation providers, an important metric is the total supply chain cost of transportation transactions. This total supply chain cost includes the effect on both transport costs and associated inventory costs. In addition, measures of performance include delivery lead time, percent on-time delivery or delivery within time windows, and schedule flexibility to accommodate shipment reschedules. Given the large volume of shipments that occur on dedicated contract trucking, there is scope for use of information, coordination agreements, and associated capadty commitments to improve performance across a supply chain. Competing carriers sell bundled routes to minimize shipper costs. 

Second, company can avoid uncertainty by cutting lead times and increasing the supply chains flexibility so that it can product to order or at least manufacture the product at a time closer to when demand materializes and can be accurately forecast. 

The second type of gate is called a flexible or permeable gate, which allows a limited number of tasks, frequently those with long lead times, to move forward to the next stage without having to pass all criteria. 

To compete on the basis of flexibility, a firm develops the ability to respond quickly to the customer needs. This flexibility can exist in many different areas if the customer is willing to pay for the flexibility. For example, a firm may be flexible in the quantity that a customer can order from them. Many distributors compete in this way, by buying in large quantities from a manufacturer and then distributing in smaller amounts to their customers. Or a firm may be flexible in its lead times to produce orders for customers. It may have a standard order lead time and a rush order lead time if it is an emergency for the customer. 

This description of value states that value is a function of quality, as perceived by the customer the delivery of the product which could represent the actual lead time, variance in the lead time, or the method of delivery and the firms flexibility. Further, the equation states that customers perceive these benefits of the product in relation to the cost of the product. 

Whenever possible, firms want to use actual customer orders to schedule their factories. They prefer not to guess about potential demand. These firms do not schedule based on a forecast or a production plan because the shop s production lead time is shorter or equal to the length of time that a customer is willing to wait for a product. Their production process may be facilitated by flexible manufacturing environments which can process a wide range of volumes. And their administrative systems are supported by software which helps to quickly schedule the shop as the orders come in. In this environment, the customers may communicate on-line with the factory. This capability helps the firm replan quickly as the conditions change. 

If company products are innovative, suppliers must be flexible. Lead-times should be short hard-to-get exotic raw materials, if any, must be in stock at the suppliers. Perhaps our company will finance this inventory. In exchange, profits for finished products are fat, justifying the extra expense. On the other hand, if company products are functional, suppliers must constantly improve their efficiency, cutting their cost for their raw materials and innovating their processes. A U.S. example of this is the furniture industry that has centers in southwestern Michigan and areas of the Southeast. 

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