Towards concurrent product and supply chain designing: a review of concepts and practices

摘要

The modern business, in order to attract and satisfy customers, is compelled to provide low priced, well differentiated products which require faster time to market and have shorter life cycle. These developments have a strong impact on not only procurement logistics but beyond. New challenges are being created for intra firm logistics as well as distribution logistics. The supply chain needs to be agile and resilient in the turbulent global market. It is essential that the design of the product and the supply chain which supports it must be carried out in an integrated manner and concurrently. A comprehensive 'design for life-cycle' approach which addresses the integration of product and supply chain design from 'cradle to cradle' is desirable. The interfaces of product designing and supply chain may be in the areas of parallel processing, modular design, packaging, storage, transportation, mass customisation and reverse logistics.