Identify the strategic position of suppliers within a supply chain network

Year: 2013
Editor: Scheurmann, E.; Maurer, M.; Schmidt, D.; Lindemann, U.
Author: Behncke, F.G.H.
Series: DSM
Institution: Technische Universit
Section: Product Architecture and Modularity
Page(s): 89-96
ISBN: 978-3-446-43803-3

Abstract

Manufacturing firms concentrate on their core competences, which increase the influence of the supply chain performance on their competitive position. Suppliers deliver the majority of a product’s architecture, which is considered as a key driver of a manufacturing firm. As a result, suppliers are strongly interrelated, due to dependencies of functions and components of the product. Established approaches for the evaluation of suppliers merely consider the individual performance of a supplier and neglects its strategic position in the supplier network. This paper presents a procedural model for the evaluation the strategic position of a supplier within the supplier network, based on the dependencies of a product’s architecture. Finally, the procedural model is applied at an industrial case study.

Keywords: Product architecture, supplier network, supplier evaluation