With the cross-industry study Strategic Coordination of Production Excellenceglobal (SCOPEglobal), the Division of Production Management at the University of St.Gallen together with the Chair of Services & Operations Management at the University of Zurich supported by the consulting company Arthur D. Little aims at identifying up-to-date management practices for the coordination of global manufacturing networks.
As result of the research project with four multinational manufacturing companies, a unique strategy approach has been developed to:
...analyse the current set-up of a manufacturing network from a holistic management perspective,
...identify relevant dimensions for the definition of site roles and the design of a tailored site role portfolio,
...develop a systematic approach to identify and solve conflicts of interests between site and network management,
...deduct a coordination methodology for the network including necessary rules and structures, and
...define a management processes for manufacturing networks including necessary tools and KPIs for its systematic development.The study SCOPEglobal aims at revealing successful management practices and network designs in industry. The underlying questionnaire is gives network managers two options for an analysis of their network: The first option concentrates on the network level: Based on the basic questionnaire, each participating network manager will be provided with a tailored benchmarking report including a cross-industry overview and an individual analysis of the current state of his manufacturing network.
The second option further addresses the site level and integrates the site managers perception of the network into the analysis: An evaluation of the additional questionnaires allows us to give an overview of site roles in each participating network as well as implications on the improvement of coordination mechanisms based on the sites’ responses.
Background & Motivation
Manufacturing networks have often grown historically. The sites belonging to the network are either built by the company itself or taken over through mergers and acquisitions. In these grown structures site competences evolve independently, the roles and responsibilities of the sites are seldom defined or communicated within the network. Additionally, the network management and the manufacturing sites pursue individual and sometimes contrary objectives. Therefore, the strategic coordination of global operations yields great potential for improvement. However, network managers often do not have the necessary tools for a strategic analysis, alignment and coordination of the manufacturing network.
Project Scope
The project "Strategic Coordination of Production Excellence" (SCOPEglobal) is initiated by the Division of Production Management at the University of St.Gallen and the Chair of Services & Operations Management at the University of Zurich. It strives for the development of a coordination methodology for global manufacturing networks including necessary rules and structures. Furthermore, a holistic management process for manufacturing networks including tools and KPIs is defined.