Page 36 - MetalForming August 2015

It’s Time to Meet Customer Expectations for
Product Customization
A postponement workflow strategy—delaying final assembly of the product—is key, backed by tools to manage the complex process.
What Does Postponement Mean?
Postponement is a workflow strate- gy. In many ways it represents a direct contradiction to the lean principles that have dominated manufacturing. Simple linear flow of production is not the best way to accommodate the high degree of variation that customers demand. Instead, a postponement strategy delays the assembly of the final product as long as possible. This allows the manufacturer to personalize orders and to change the product mix to reflect changing demand patterns. Postponement avoids the risks and costs of producing undesired products. With postponement, manufacturers produce and stock subcomponents up to the point of differentiation, and then complete a customized version of the product to satisfy a unique or small-lot requirement.
A Successful Postponement Strategy Requires Agility
First and foremost, a successful postponement strategy requires a high-
BY LARRY KORAK
Customer demands for highly con- figured products have created a new normal in discrete manu- facturing, and operational managers must adopt new strategies to manage such complexity. While producing high- ly customized products provides a com- petitive edge, the logistics involved can erode efficiency and threaten prof- itability. Many manufacturers turn to postponement strategies and late-stage assembly as they redefine workflows, quality control and inventory manage- ment. It’s a new manufacturing envi- ronment, where innovative concepts
Larry Korak is industry strategy director of industrial manufacturing for Infor, New York, NY; www.infor.com.
are devised and tested every day. In order to remain competitive, opera- tional processes must evolve.
The quest for competitiveness has caused manufacturers to move away from simple make-to-stock processes and to introduce make-to-order and, to a lesser extent, engineer-to-order capa- bilities. These methods require close supplier collaboration and a deep understanding of what can and should be produced, and when. To keep these operational demands from negatively impacting profitability, manufacturers must adapt new processes while con- tinuing to control quality and product specifications. This is no easy task given the ever expanding range of product styles, features and related accessories.
34 MetalForming/August 2015
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