Strategic Network Design

Abstract

The computer industry is a typical example of a material constrained supply chain. The main bottleneck of demand fulfilment is the availability of the electronic components, e. g. disk drives, processors, memory etc. This case study is based on an actual APS implementation project at a large international computer manufacturer. Four modules of the APS system by i2 Technologies are implemented, supporting the demand planning process, the mid-term supply planning process, the short-term supply planning process and the order promising process. The following case study describes in detail –  the computer assembly supply chain, the product structure and the assembly process (Sect. 20.1), –  the scope and objectives of the APS implementation project (Sect. 20.2), –  the planning processes being supported by the APS system, i. e. demand planning, operational planning, order planning, order promising and the integration of the applied i2 planning modules with the existing SAP R/3 system (Sect. 20.3), and –  results and lessons learned from the APS implementation (Sect. 20.4).