Globalization and international division of work : New ways of co-operation within lean production networks

• Specialization, higher competition and global markets have resulted on situation, where industrial companiesneed to transform their operating structures to more lean (efficient), but also being able maintain their agility(flexibility for changes in order that profitability is assured). This finding also got ground in our literature review– leanness and agility are not necessarily opposite paradigms in manufacturing companies. However, indeveloping economies implementing leanness, and having responsive logistics performance is characterized byfusion of macro logistics (governmental) and business logistics issues. Our three case studies verify literaturefindings, and shed some North-European and Russian perspective on the research regarding this topic. Based onfindings, both Finnish and Swedish case companies are increasingly favoring foreign suppliers, and emphasis isespecially on developing economies. Also integration of product life-cycles on the logistics decisions is vital,and input factor in logistics configuration decisions. Russian manufacturing unit case study, operating near-byFinnish border, reveals that properly working logistics flow is essential for business success, since deliveries arenot limited to Finnish Original Equipment Manufacturers or Russian markets, but Russian case company needsto manage shipments directly to China and India too. International shipments are managed through Finland,while manufacturing base is located in Russia.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Transportteknik och logistik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Transport Systems and Logistics (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Lean production

production networks

emerging economies

Northern Europe

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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