Dell Processes Ford
Suppliers own inventory until it is used in production
Suppliers maintain nearby ship points; delivery time 15 minutes to 1 hour
External logistics supplier used to manage inbound supply chain
Customers frequently steered to PCs with high availability to balance
supply and demand
Demand forecasting is critical—changes are shared immediately within Dell
And with supply base
Demand pull throughout value chain—“information for inventory” substitution
Focused on strategic partnerships: suppliers down from 200 to 47
Complexity is low: 50 components, 8 – 10 key, 100 permutations