Streamlining Internal Supply Chain, based on mapping processes

Sammanfattning: Context Background Globalisation, increasing product complexity, volatile demand, and financial crisis all put strains on the supply, processing, and distribution of goods. That’s why supply chain management has become the area to focus on to gain competitive advantages and reduce costs. Saint-Gobain Sekurit Scandinavia (SGSS) is part of a large global French enterprise, Saint-Gobain that’s a world leader in its markets. SGSS also operates globally in three markets and manufactures windshields for the automotive and transportation industries. SGSS’s overall a high performing company that over the years has conducted numerous improvement projects and is both ISO/TS 16949 and ISO 14001 certified. It currently has several employees that have world class manufacturing belts and are continuously managing projects to improve performance. SGSS currently uses a balanced score card type of measurement system and puts a lot of effort on maintaining and improving quality. Problem SGSS’s supply chain processes are not currently defined which makes overview of the supply chain not optimal from management point of view and raises thoughts about the supply chain processes potential for improvements. Distribution of responsibilities is not fully clarified and creates a platform for conflicts and communication problems. That in turn increases the risk for delays of delivery to customers as a result. Other perceived problems are long lead-time, increasing complexity, and high WIP. Purpose Identify and recommend improvements and/ or how to eliminate bottlenecks in information flows within the internal supply chain, based on mapping processes. Improvements are supposed to address the operationalization of strategy and have the purpose to create a sustainable solution Methodology The study assumes systems approach to research and attempts to create a solution that’s greater than single components of analysis. The study begins inductively with the process map, in the second phase it becomes deductive when analysing challenges, the measurement sysVIII tem is a result of both methods iterating and cannot really be defined. The measurement system that is the final result of the study attempts to be normative and the study is therefore considered to be normative as well. Credibility has been important to this study for several reasons, partly because it attempts to be normative; triangulation has been used extensively to ensure credibility. It’s overall a qualitative study even if some quantitative aspects exist. Data is an even mixture of primary and secondary nature. The collection of data is executed through interviews, observations, and archive analysis. Findings Recommendations are separated into three types: primary, secondary, and tertiary recommendations, depending on estimates of required time, dedication and size of investment. SGSS should use the process map and measurement system to improve communication related issues and the measurement system to communicate the relation between operations and strategy so that employees better understand the purpose of their work. Delays can be decreased by restricting forecast changes to the different safety stocks in the supply chain and by using the appended fault tree analysis to understand root causes to delays. SGSS should give supply chain management more attention to take advantage of the on-going market trends and define their value proposition to better align operations. Reorient to the process view in order to reduce hierarchy, i.e. delegate responsibility and authority by empowering process owners, involving employees into decisions, and creating systems that allow employees to get their ideas realized. This also means that SGSS should map the remaining core processes and integrate them with each other. Companies in general and Saint-Gobain Sekurit in Eslöv should take the outside in perspective to strategy. To do that they should benchmark the frame of reference in the performance management system. This will better align strategy with reality.