Fractal manufacturing partnership: exploring a new form of strategic alliance between OEMs and suppliers

Abstract

In today’s competitive environment, companies are paying more attention to product innovations, customized products, manufacturing agility, and lean operations. To support this mode of operations, companies are moving from highly vertically integrated organizations to leaner core business units supported by supplier networks. While partnership companies and their suppliers could take a variety of forms, “fractal manufacturing partnership” (FMP) is an emerging approach designed to maximize the logistical attributes of a lean production system and configured to provide the strategic merging of engineering network capabilities. FMP is most suitable for engineering assembly type work in which seamless operation is desired and where agile feedback is necessary. Based on the case study of the automotive industry, this paper will discuss the characteristics and attributes of FMP. However, more research is required to quantify the direct benefits of this approach.

Citation

Noori, H. and Lee, W.B. (2000), "Fractal manufacturing partnership: exploring a new form of strategic alliance between OEMs and suppliers", Logistics Information Management, Vol. 13 No. 5, pp. 301-311. https://doi.org/10.1108/09576050010378522