Improvement of Process for Managing Fixed Manufacturing Lead Time Promises

摘要

Precise and reliable delivery promises are essential to manufacturing companies. A make-to-order or assemble-to-order company may make delivery time a strong competitive advantage. The case company, a Nordic high-tech electronics manufacturer, uses fixed manufacturing lead time promises (FMLTP) as a basis for delivery time promising.This is a case study that aims at identifying the need of improving the actual FMLTPs of certain products as well as providing improvement suggestions for the process of managing the FMLTPs. In addition, the target of the study is to present alternative delivery time promising models; to analyze the impact of manufacturing environment decisions to delivery time promises; and to discuss the importance of delivery time for manufacturing companies.To address these objectives a literature review and an extensive current state analysis were conducted. The analysis consists of semi-structured interviews, a quantitative sales data analysis and of a brief competitor benchmark study. 18 employees of the case case company were interviewed in order to understand the pros and cons as well as to identify the improvement possibilities in the current state of the FMLTP model. Sales data analysis enabled making data-based recommendations for improving the FMLTPs.The results imply that the case company’s delivery times are in general competitive but the FMLTP model causes additional unnecessary work and could be improved. The literature review suggests that supply chain resources based advanced-available-to-promise (AATP) model could be a promising alternative for the FMLTP model. Based on the results of the current state study, this thesis provides a list of the case company’s products whose FMLTPs need improvement. Likewise, improvement suggestions for the process for managing FMLTPs are provided. Process related improvement suggestions are given for new product introduction (NPI) process to standardize and ensure justified FMLTP decisions. Additionally proposals are provided for reviewing the performance of the FMLTP model and revising the FMLTPs.