Supply chain design during the product emergence process – The example of the German car industry

Car developers are often open to requirements or suggestions from logisticians and tend to find very creative solutions to their issues. However, the right timing appears to be a critical factor and logistics often does not have the necessary manpower to attend every relevant meeting in the many different development projects. Based on a number of interviews (~ 25) with representatives of German car manufacturers, the impact of activities like choice of location, definition of product structure, make-or-buy decision, selection of main suppliers and carrier planning on the shape of the supply chain and the product are discussed using various examples. The possibilities of logisticians trying to influence New Product Development are described as well as the constraints which accompany the main decisions during Target Definition and Fuzzy Front End. Thus, scarce resources (e. g. personnel) can be focused on the most important activities and therefore be used more efficiently. We will also point out major problems with possible solutions and examples of best-practices.