To ensure a stable supply of the automotive industry
with semiconductor components even under widely
varying market conditions, while avoiding high
inventory and transport costs, it is necessary to optimize
collaboration in the supply chain. Based on industrial
project experience in the automotive and semiconductor
industry as well as research initiatives, a reference model
covering a range of improvement actions has been
defined at Fraunhofer IPA. In this respect, the
dimensions of process, technology, IT system, and
strategy are distinguished for both long-term capacity
and investment planning and short-term order
management (compare [1]): The dimension Strategy
addresses strategic actions like risk-sharing models and
dual source strategies, which change the fundamentals of
the cross-company collaboration. In addition, the
dimension Technology covers improvement actions like
product modularization, hard customization and soft
customization, which change the semiconductor product
itself and thereby improve the overall supply chain
efficiency. The dimension Process defines direct
improvement actions for the supply chain planning and
order management processes at the interface between
both industries. Finally, the dimension IT System
specifies IT tools, which support the cross-industry
processes and allow mastering the supply chain
complexity.