Manufacturing Flow Management

This process of management involves making a decision as to how production should be organized and managed. Conventionally production system uses push strategy but in a customer focus environment pull strategy is more effective. For implementing the pull system, manufacturing process must be flexible to respond to market changes. This requires the elasticity to perform rapid change over to accommodate mass customization; orders are processed on a just in time basis in minimum lot size. The production process must strike a balance between customer satisfaction and efficiency in a customer focused business environment.

Product Procurement

Procurement is the process of buying and transferring material, parts or finished inventory from supplier location to manufacturing or assembly plants, warehouse or retail stores. Earlier procurement was carried out on the basis of bid and buys system whereas in today’s integrated concept long-term partnerships are developed with core group of suppliers. Suppliers are involved at the early design stage which can lead to reduction in product development cycle times. To reduce the cost and time on the transaction process of the purchase, the customer demand purchasing activities are carried out with rapid communication mechanism such as EDI and interest linkages.

Development and Commercialization

The firm in order to remain competitive and has to sharpen the intervals of its product development. The customer and suppliers must therefore be integrated into product development process. The firm needs to develop efficient strategies for development and sustain the market competition.

Return Channel

Organization of the return channel as a business process offers the same opportunity to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage as managing the supply chain from an out-bound perspective. Effective process management of return channel enables the identification of productivity improvement opportunities and break through projects.