Contract Manufacturing - A New Kind of 3-Way Match
Even if you assume that most OEMs in this situation will have some sort of after-the-fact performance reporting, wouldn’t it be preferable – at least for key customers – to have a little more advance warning? Being able to match up what the customer wants with what the OEM has promised to what the contract manufacturer is actually delivering upon, right now, strikes me as a good idea. (Actually, it’s even tougher than that, as it really involves a 4-way match that would include the logistics service provider and / or carrier that is actually moving the product.)
Given how lean everyone is running these days, the ability to precisely monitor and orchestrate this kind of supply chain activity for critical orders and shipments seems crucial. In fact, competitively differentiating. What are others seeing out there to address this problem?
