AMR compares consumer products and high tech supply chains

AMR Research Inc. has conducted a study comparing the supply chains in two industries, consumer products (CP) and high tech.

Staff -- Supply Chain Management Review, 5/24/2007 6:39:00 AM

AMR Research Inc. has conducted a study comparing the supply chains in two industries, consumer products (CP) and high tech. The analysis included companies both in the United States and Europe. AMR Research ran correlations between seven variables and their impact on a company’s ability to manage the cost of reliable, predictable supply chains. The findings show that high tech has a tight correlation with the frequencies of demand planning and predictable costs, while consumer products shows a tight correlation with cost measurement frequencies.

Other findings show that U.S. supply chain teams are more mature than their European counterparts. For example, U.S. supply chain teams in both industries average four years experience while their European counterparts average only slightly more than two years. There are also differences in the size of supply chain teams. CP teams overall were twice the size of high tech teams. In Europe, CP teams were 50 percent smaller than CP teams in the United States; European high tech teams were 30 percent smaller.

Both sectors showed similar levels of manufacturing outsourcing—23 percent for consumer products companies 26 percent for high tech. European companies outsourced slightly more than U.S. firms.  Among the other key findings:  CP teams measure their supply chain costs slightly more frequently than high tech teams. Seventy percent of CP companies measure costs weekly or daily, while 65 percent of high tech teams measure costs weekly or daily.

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