Product Design from A Supply Chain Management Perspective

17 Pages Posted: 24 Oct 2012

See all articles by Balram Avittatur

Balram Avittatur

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kolkata

Janat Shah

Indian Institute of Management Udaipur

L. Murty

Indian Institute of Management (IIMB), Bangalore

Date Written: May 30, 2000

Abstract

The linkages between supply chain related issues and product design issues have not received much attention in literature. This paper presents a framework for supply chain strategy that integrates product design related cost and inventory costs. Postponement concept is an important supply chain strategy employed by firms to reduce inventory costs and lead-times, and to improve customer service levels. The postponement strategy is in the focus of research in the last few years and its importance is traced to the increasing trends in globalisation and product customisation. Exploitation of product modularity is an important element in the success of the postponement strategy. This paper builds on the existing concept of parts commonality index and introduces a new measure called Modularity Index, which is more comprehensive in nature.

Keywords: Product Modularity, Product Design, Supply Chain Management, Postponement Strategy

Suggested Citation

Avittatur, Balram and Shah, Janat and Murty, L., Product Design from A Supply Chain Management Perspective (May 30, 2000). IIM Bangalore Research Paper No. 154, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2161789 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2161789

Balram Avittatur

Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kolkata ( email )

Kolkata, West Bengal 700104
India

Janat Shah (Contact Author)

Indian Institute of Management Udaipur ( email )

Mohanlal Sukhadia University Campus
Udaipur, Rajasthan 313001
India

HOME PAGE: http://www.iimu.ac.in

L. Murty

Indian Institute of Management (IIMB), Bangalore ( email )

Bannerghatta Road
Bangalore, Karnataka 560076
India

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
314
Abstract Views
1,548
Rank
176,232
PlumX Metrics