Supply chain management: A strategic issue in engineer to order manufacturing

The characteristics of Engineer to Order (ETO) companies are described in terms of their markets, products and the internal processes of their organisation. These are set in the context of current trends in supply chain management. The business processes associated with the procurement and marketing functions and the interactions with other processes are analysed. These are compared for a number of different types of ETO company. The variety of work in ETO projects, the customised, complex products and the underlying uncertainties of markets all indicate that procurement and marketing need to be integrated with other processes, particularly tendering and design. These characteristics put constraints on the application of established supply chain management methods. It is argued that a strategic view of supply chain management in which procurement makes a greater contribution in the tendering and early product development activities has the potential to improve performance. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.