Selecting The Right Strategy To Meet Customer Requirements

Paul Childerhouse1, Séverine M. Hong-Minh2 & Mohamed M. Naim3

1Research Associate, Logistics Systems Dynamics Group, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, UK, FAX 029 20874301, TEL 029 20876915, childerhouse@cardiff.ac.uk
2Research Associate, Logistics Systems Dynamics Group, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, UK, FAX 029 20874301, TEL 029 20876915, hongminhsm@cardiff.ac.uk.
3Reader, Logistics Systems Dynamics Group, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, UK, FAX 029 20874301, TEL 029 20874635, naimmm@cardiff.ac.uk.

Abstract

Supply chain management has received a great deal of interest during the past few years. There is a concurrent view that a ‘save all’ strategy applicable to all circumstances is available to industrialists. This paper challenges this view and puts forward alternative house building supply chain strategies for particular market circumstances. Initially a review of the UK house building value stream is presented along with a description of the way in which supply chain management plays a critical role. The general principles behind the two recent popular supply chain approaches, Lean and Agile are presented along with the combination of the two into a single holistic approach called Leagility. Customer requirements are diverse in the house building sector and as a result the supply chain must be matched to best service these alternative marketplace conditions. The Leagile strategy is expanded via different positions of the strategic stock, de-coupling point into four alternative strategies: Make to stock, fit out to order, shell and fit out to order and design to order. Each strategy is explained in depth and the paper concludes with a matrix designed to match these four alternatives with different customer requirements. Thus, a tool is provided for selecting the right supply chain strategy given any type of customer requirements.

Keywords

UK house building, supply chain strategies, Lean, Agile, Leagile

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Reference in APA 7th edition format:

Childerhouse, P., Hong-Minh, S. M. & Naim, M. M.. (2000). Selecting The Right Strategy To Meet Customer Requirements. 8th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction.

Shortened reference for use in IGLC papers:

Childerhouse, P., Hong-Minh, S. M. & Naim, M. M.. (2000). Selecting The Right Strategy To Meet Customer Requirements. IGLC8.