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News and views : How best to know where your factories should be? - Manufacturing resource planning Article
The article entitled: "News and views : How best to know where your factories should be?" is in the Manufacturing resource planning Articles section of Operations Management Papers area...
ARTICLE DESCRIPTION: The Institute for Manufacturing at Cambridge has been engaged over the last two years with several global companies to work out where their factories should be sited around the globe and what should be the manufacturing role for each site. Existing global configurations are often the result of acquisition based growth strategies. Emerging markets and low cost manufacturing sources clearly can’t be ignored. At the same time there are enormous risks and significant working capital associated with any major reconfiguration. Most networks include their share of so-called ‘monuments’ that cannot be moved. The solution to these questions requires a mix of engineering, economic, political and social considerations. This is one of those business processes where being 80% right will bring huge benefits but being 85% right may be dramatically better again. The problem is that none of us knows just how ‘right’ our process is.
MORE INFO: News and views : How best to know where your factories should be? The Institute for Manufacturing at Cambridge has been engaged over the last two years with several global companies to work out where their factories should be sited around the globe and what should be the manufacturing role for each site. Existing global configurations are often the result of acquisition based growth strategies. Emerging markets and low cost manufacturing sources clearly can’t be ignored. At the same time there are enormous risks and significant working capital associated with any major reconfiguration. Most networks include their share of so-called ‘monuments’ that cannot be moved. The solution to these questions requires a mix of engineering, economic, political and social considerations. This is one of those business processes where being 80% right will bring huge benefits but being 85% right may be dramatically better again. The problem is that none of us knows just how ‘right’ our process is. It is for this reason that the Institute for Manufacturing has announced that it will be launching the Global Manufacturing Networks Forum in January 2006. This project will bring together key industrialists from a limited number of global manufacturing enterprises to identify leading practice in the design of global manufacturing networks. As well as its direct activities with large companies, the IfM's Centre for International Manufacturing has led research in this field for over 11 years. The forum offers participating companies the opportunity to identify gaps in their manufacturing network design processes by benchmarking with others. Through the forum they will gain access to innovative tools to support the process. This then leads to action plans for implementing an enhanced approach. The forum will consist of up to 12 non-competing companies and will run for 15 months. The interchange of experience will be confidential to the participants. The deadline for applications is 18th November 2005. For further information about the forum, please contact Paul Christodoulou at the IfM on +44 (0)1223 766141 or email pac46@eng.cam.ac.uk
PUBLISHER: Institute of Operations Management
Page number: 12 Word count: 320
Vol 31 - No 07 - November/December 2005
The article can be downloaded in full from the publisher's site i.e. the Institute of Operations Management.
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