The selected determinants of manufacturing postponement within supply chain context: An international study

Modern supply chains focus on an ultimate consumer satisfaction and often require essential dynamic reconfiguration. Manufacturing companies constitute important central nodes in supply chains, where almost all physical flows are concentrated. Postponement is the operating concept, which aims at delaying activities until a customer’s order has been received. The growth of interest in the postponement concept partially results from the increased demand for customized products. Data for the analysis has been collected through the survey carried out by researchers in several countries. The main research instrument used for this research was a questionnaire developed by the Global Manufacturing Research Group (GMRG). The conclusions formulated on the basis of data analysis proved that market and demand characteristics do not seem to be important for the choice between postponement and speculation strategy. The research showed that assembly postponement depends mostly on managerial decisions about the goals of company and the level of acceptance of an assembly postponement strategy on the market. Full postponement strategy is dictated mainly by the level of product customization and capacities of manufacturing and logistics systems. Production postponement has to be accepted on the market and should be associated with excellent forecasting techniques.