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GLOBAL companies struggle with decisions on how much to outsource.迷你倉出租 Too little means an organization may lose the pricing advantages that can come with using competitive providers worldwide. Too much — or the wrong kind of outsourcing — and quality and knowledge management can suffer.A panel at a recent Wharton Global Forum in Tokyo titled, “Global Supply Chain Management: Outsourcing, Re-shoring, and Near-Shoring,” looked at the reshaping of the global supply chain, and how companies choose where and whom to source from in a fast-changing environment.During the discussion, led by Wharton professor of operations and information management Morris A. Cohen, the panelists suggested that the cheapest solution is not always the best, and that the architecture of supply chains can vary widely depending on the industry and products involved.Boeing’s supply chain evolves from extensive research into customers and the environments in which they operate, said Beth Anderson, a Boeing vice president. “We go through the entire cycle of designing the airplane and designing the production system, and understanding who our customers are going to be and how we’re going to support the aircraft once it goes into service.”Boeing’s main customer base has evolved since 20 years ago, when 75 percent of the company’s production took place in the United States and Europe, with the rest happening elsewhere. Now, just 25 percent of Boeing’s backlog is in its traditional markets in the US and Europe, with 75 percent in fast-growing economies like China and India.Complex supply chainLast year, the manufacturer sourced 783 million parts used to build 600 aircraft. By 2014, it will be bringing in more than one billion parts from a total of 7,500 suppliers to build 700 planes. “It’s a vast supply chain and very complex,” Anderson said of the 500,000 people in 73 countries engaged in helping to build Boeing products.For companies like Boeing, the extremely high degree of regulation typically helps to prevent bogus parts from getting into the industry.“Mostly th迷你倉 regulators do the policing. We just ensure that all the parts have the right documentation,” Anderson said.Automakers like Nissan face much greater risks, given the prevalence of independent auto service companies in many markets. “It’s very difficult to guarantee the source of the parts. Our badge is on the car no matter where the parts come from,” Cobee noted. “I recommend not using an unauthorized dealer in China.”Partly out of those concerns, some consumers are choosy about the origin of the products they buy. But for IT companies like Fujitsu, although components are made in various places, from Costa Rica to Israel, “we can boast that our products are made only in Japan,” said Kenji Mizuno, a senior vice president in electronics maker Fujitsu’s supply chain management unit. “The real issue is reliability and capability. We do very special tests, and sometimes many components fail. But when we deliver the finished computers, they are very high quality. That’s our expertise. They are made and assembled in Japan with our technology.”Tokyo Electron, likewise, uses components from overseas but puts its products through extensive testing before they are shipped.No returnCompanies must realize that once they have opened the door to collaboration or outsourcing, it can never be closed, noted Nissan’s Vincent Cobee, corporate vice president in the automaker’s Global Datsun Business Unit. Given the huge risks of failure for products like automobiles and many other products, “you have to think about not only the benefit for tomorrow but also about whether you can sustain it.”To keep a competitive edge requires constant innovation. “You have to innovate more than the others. Yes, we have the daily job of protecting IP. It doesn’t take a genius to dismantle a car and reverse engineer it,” Cobee said. “The only way is innovation.”Adapted from China Knowledge@Wharton, .knowledgeatwharton.com.cn. To read the original, please visit: .knowledgeatwharton.com.cn/index.cfm?fa=article&articleid=2830 儲存倉