Supply Chain Management: Build-to-order and Mass Customization Drive Speedy Product Delivery

    CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--Feb. 13, 2003--Increasing emphasis on superior quality and the crucial bottom-line are compelling world-class companies to implement build-to-order/mass customization principles, to reduce excess inventory and speed product delivery, as part of their strategic supply chain management.
    A brand new study by benchmarking research firm Best Practices, LLC, has profiled some of the cutting-edge benchmark trends at leading companies and supply chain organizations.
    "Supply Chain Management Best Practices", available at http://www.benchmarkingreports.com/r/r444.htm, reveals the latest trends and practices in supply chain management. Study findings by Best Practices, LLC, determine key performance metrics at prominent manufacturers, including:

--	Delivery performance metrics
--	Cycle time metrics
--	Inventory and cash management metrics
--	Supply chain cost metrics

    Mastery of these metrics directly affects quality, customer lead times, inventory levels, and delivery time, enhancing supply chain performance.
    Benchmark findings reveal that several benchmark firms have realized 100% performance at a number of key measures including on-time delivery and fill rate. For example, one high-technology firm, renowned for its super-efficient supply chain, utilizes a build-to-order manufacturing program to curtail its inventory to a five-day supply, while shipping 95 percent of customer orders within eight hours. In an industry characterized by plummeting materials costs and rapid rendering of obsolete technology, this strategy has provided this firm with a key competitive advantage as a low-cost producer.
    The winning strategies and critical insights in this report were drawn from probing interviews and surveys with quality executives at 27 organizations. This groundbreaking benchmark study also highlights other industry-leading supply chain management criteria such as:

    -- Performance to standard measures (on-time delivery, fill rate
    etc.)

    -- Supply chain costs and cost saving initiatives

    -- Demand/supply chain initiatives that enhance the
    vendor-customer relationship, including BTO (build-to-order
    inventory) and VMI(vendor managed inventory)

    Download a summary of "Supply Chain Management Best Practices," at http://www.benchmarkingreports.com/r/r444.htm. For more information about this report or other benchmarking reports, contact Mike Rogers at (919) 767-9255 or at mrogers@best-in-class.com.

    ABOUT BEST PRACTICES, LLC

    Best Practices, LLC is a research and consulting firm that works on the principle that organizations can chart a course to superior economic performance by studying the best business practices, operating tactics and winning strategies of world-class organizations. For more information, call 919-403-0251 or visit http://www.best-in-class.com/