Morphological box

Within each CM in SCD Phase 1 a morphological box is completed which records the TO-BE situation. The same is performed in SCD Phase 2, where the AS-IS simation is recorded in the morphological box. An example of the morphological box can be found in Sect. 1.6. In SCD Phase 3, the filled morphological boxes from SCD Phases 1 and 2 are compared within the gap analysis. 

SCD Phase 3 includes the aforementioned gap analysis which results from the comparison of the TO-BE and the AS-IS states of the supply chain recorded in the previous two phases in order to identify areas requiring optimization. This comparison is achieved by filling the results from SCD Phase 1 as well as from SCD Phase 2 into a morphological box. This allows for a clear illustration of the deficit arising from the comparison of the TO-BE and AS-IS situation. Based on the analysis of the strategic and operative gap and a KPI benchmarking, suitable corrective actions to all supply chain processes, if necessary, are selected. 

In this section an exemplary morphological box is presented. The morphological box illustrated in Figs. 1.16 and 1.17 is a recommendation for possible analysis to be applied to a supply chain differentiation approach. Thus, the structure of the morphological box depends on the chosen analysis as well as on the applied CMs within the guideline. As mentioned in Sect. 1.5, the approach is scalable due to its modular structure and hence, not all CMs must be applied. 

Every analysis within a CM leads to one dimension (row) in the morphological box and determines the possible values or conditions for each dimension (the columns). If, for example, the dimension Relationship management highlighted in Fig. 1.16 is considered, the analysis is characterized by four possible results. However, the possibility would also exist to illustrate eight possible results. For this reason the characteristics of an analysis may vary. 

However, the stmcmre of the morphological box also depends on the detail depth of the applied content of the guideline. This can be illustrated by taking the dimension Product modules depicted in Fig. 1.16 as an example. In this morphological box, the products for a customer segment are subdivided into their modules. In addition, for each of the identified modules it would equally be possible to determine their components. This would imply additional dimensions in the morphological box for each product. Thus, if a company is producing three... 

Fig. 1.16 Example of the morphological box (MoB) for supply chain differentiation, first part...

Hence, if the decoupling point is determined for the whole value network, the morphological box for supply chain differentiation will appear as depicted in Fig. 1.16. However, if the decoupling point is defined for each product, this would imply an additional dimension for each product. The third approach, determining the decoupling point for each module level, would add 18 additional dimensions to three products and six content modules. 

After having explained the variability of the morphological box, the layout will be briefly explained. The morphological box consists of one descriptive part and three decision areas such as the customer area, manufacturing area, and supplier area as depicted on the left hand side in Figs. 1.16 and 1.17. 

The descriptive part covers issues determining, for example, the product demanded for a defined customer segment. Moreover, it includes customer requirements such as product quality or price and defines which distribution channel fits best for the considered customer segment. However, this part takes into account the major points in the morphological box and thus, may vary depending on the preferences of a company. 

Dimensions in morphological box Competitive priorities and strategic SC orientation... 

Fig. 3.17 Exemplary morphological box for identifying customer requirements and segments of...

In the four steps of the decision of setting the value of the real net output ratio (level of non-outsourced production), the company decides whether it wants to outsource these products or whether to keep them in-house. In this case, the company decides to outsource the inferior parts of the hierarchy of importance pyramid, which are the screen, keyboard and computer case of the laptop. Furthermore, the chipset is sourced by another company, since the company does not have the necessary means and specialized knowledge to keep it in-house. In the morphological box, the make decision is indicated with a (M) and the buy decision with (B). 

The morphological box in Fig. 5.10 shows the different modules according to their product categorization. For example, the screen and keyboard are two different product modules that are noncritical items, whereas the motherboard belongs to the strategic items. 

In the exemplary morphological box, one can see the results of the TO-BE analysis of the customer, manufacturing and supplier areas. All of these results are only applied to the customer segment private . In the customer area, it shows that... 

Dimension in morphological box Relationsh ip management (customers and suppliers)... 

Dimension in morphological box Supply chain process management (Human resources)... 

In the morphological box, it is possible to fill in the TO-BE situation of supply chain project management as well as the supply chain process management (human resources). The level of project management implemented can be identified and filled into the morphological box (Fig. 8.11). 

The semi-structured questionnaire presents a guided approach which follows the structure of the morphological box within the SCD Guideline. Here, closed as well as open questions are presented and highlighted in boxes within the text. The open questions are intended to elicit additional information which is helpful when evaluating the AS-IS state of the supply chain, but will not be recorded explicitly in the morphological box. 

Completely filled in morphological box for supply chain AS-IS situation... 

In SCD-Phase 2, the supply chain AS-IS situation is described for a later comparison of the current state to the TO-BE state in SCD-Phase 3. The morphological box is an efifective way of highlighting the AS-IS situation of a company state of the supply chain. 

As already described in the previous sections, the dimension (rows) and the characteristics (columns) of the morphological box depend on the chosen analyses within the content modules. By means of a decision with respect to certain analyses the intended, structure of a possible supply chain is determined. 

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