Joachim Kuhn
Quality Management
Daimler AG
6th of October City, Egypt
Accounting, Finance and Operations Management
Anglia Ruskin University
Cambridge/Chelmsford, United Kingdom
joachim.kuhn@t-online.de
Abstract—The focus onto the final customer is one of the II. ARCHITECTURE OF END-TO-END SUPPLY CHAINS
major sources to design and improve the value adding processes
Supply chains are targeted by intensive discussions to
of a company. By having the customer’s delight [1] in the mind it
is required to direct the majority of processes to this delightful reduce the lead time, improve the customer satisfaction by
momentum. End-to-end supply chain management is exactly having a good service level for instance and decrease the
stressing on this focus. However, this end-to-end point of view is related cost burden of logistical processes or other manifold
not new: the customer order cycle is already addressing this since targets [2]. Puzzling all targets together for the big picture the
many decades. Hence the question arises “What’s new?” Answer: main area to look for improvement is the architecture of the
the strong commitment to the circular logistical momentum. supply chain itself: it includes the processes (e.g. the just-in-
Several process layers are linked together and controlled by a time delivery of parts), the structural elements for these
customer supply chain controller. In this article these different processes (racks and advanced guided vehicles for example)
process layers are explored and a controlling tool developed to and the function of the area as for example to provide a proper
achieve such a customer-focused supply chain management. line feeding.
Based on empirical examples of the automotive industry and
literature research the different aspects for this paper are Looking at the process level first the supply chain consists of
retrieved. After these explanations a critical conclusion shows five elements [3]:
limits of such an end-to-end supply chain and gives ideas for
further research fields.
1. Transportation
2. Storage
Keywords—supply chain management; automotive logistics; 3. Cross-docking
flow principle 4. Sequencing
5. Commissioning (kit creation).
I. INTRODUCTION These five process clusters link together several structural
When the borders opened between West and East elements. One of them is human resources. By fulfilling the
Germany in 1990 two economical systems confronted each assigned tasks the employee is processing any given material
other. One of the significant differences was the treatment of and information into a specified output. The description of the
waste. Following a more linear way of thinking the waste different process steps is codified in the work instruction and
treatment was mainly based on dumping in West-Germany. standard work sheet [4]. By following the sequence of the
Nevertheless due to economical constraints in East-Germany it different steps any process in itself is structured. Only certain
had to recycle quite a substantial amount of waste due to the innovations or continuous improvement activities should
scarcity of hard currency. As a side effect the circular waste initiate this processing to change based on experimental field
handling was apparent in the whole eastern part of Germany. results as given in figure 1.
Some decades later the circular waste treatment is common
sense in whole Germany.
However, also in non-waste related processes the circular
idea is generating new approaches in business as well. In this
paper the circular flow of goods/material and information is
examined with a particular focus on automotive logistics. The
architecture of end-to-end (E2E) supply chains is described in
the next chapter followed by a brief review about the delta to
the linear logistical flow. The paper is concluded by some
critical remarks about this “new” circular perspective and
further research fields.
Time
M onth
G E M
We ek
A
-1
Co ntrol chart Co ntrol chart
1
P1 P1new
1
3
P3 P2new
4
P4
P roduction of the
shipping lot
6
Customs cle aring and delivery of the called- of f
containe r , c ontainer unloading, storing, prepara tion
a nd delivery of the parts to the production line
P3new
Loading of
P7
2
7
P4new
vessel
8
from H amburg to Ale xandria
Shipment of the KD-sets
Order plac eme nt of vehicles ( inc l. options) and a supplie r rela ted
9
P5new
10
Containe r transport to Hamburg by truck
Pr eparing the
container conte nt lists
Running process Experimental field
11
3
12
Notes:
13
E2E = End-to-End
14
if financially necessar y
15
4
16
Machines and tools like forklifts or advanced guided
17
vehicles or storage facilities are the second structural element
19
5
embedded with their specification limits. The structure itself is
20
quite immobile and rigid: Once changes have to be made for
21
this captive capital it is quite an (investment) effort to
22
De termination of
model mix
implement these. Hence structural changes are limiting the 23
once the assets are written off or the product requires a new
24
set of hardware components (e.g. racks or tools). Reflecting MATERIAL INFORM ATION
the SDCA (Standardize-Do-Check-Act) and PDCA (Plan-Do- LOG ISTICS LOG ISTICS