Customer Operations
CRM and SRM investments contribute to increased productivity and improved profitability only through efficient order management processes. Taking an enterprise view of CRM and SRM systems, companies must integrate them to capitalize on...
opportunities from demand and supply perspectives to increase profits and return on investment.
The automotive industry has witnessed frenetic activity on the supply side resulting in path-breaking concepts and processes such as JIT, VMI and collaborative product development. The next wave of activity will focus on customer management on...
the demand side. As global consolidation and over-capacity continues in the industry, automotive companies seek to enhance value delivery through innovative and path-breaking customer services. The authors take a look at the emerging possibilities and the trends in this area.
Companies are targeting CRM as customer satisfaction contributes to the success of a service provider. Consumer-driven companies are automating their mobile workforce to reduce response time, increase first-call effectiveness and retain customers.
Managing warranty is an enterprise-wide challenge, impacting multiple departments including Quality, Customer Service, Product Development, Finance and Procurement. However, rarely is the required importance accorded to warranty...
management. Warranty is not viewed holistically, but as parts and managed in the same fashion.
The critical nature of spare parts management in manufacturing and service operations cannot be understated. Factors such as demand unpredictability, part alternates, parts indigenization and tight control on spare parts...
inventory coupled with high service levels, demand decision support to accurately forecast spare part requirements and to optimize inventory. Meeting these objectives helps improve profitability and achieve strategic goals such as customer loyalty. The paper discusses various facets of spares and service management from a Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) perspective. It also examines the industry from an automation perspective and suggests viable solutions.
Corporate Operations
Whether an organization manufactures or resells a product, the responsibility to comply makes the manufacturer and the reseller legally accountable. Product compliance is a constantly evolving...
process, whose role is enhanced in product proliferations and complex supply chains. The recent increase in compliance-related penalties, fines, and recalls, has left no room for non-compliance. Manufacturers, retailers and suppliers are pressed to innovate quickly to not only create compliant products, but also to declare it ‘compliant’ by placing it on store shelves. Our expert presents perspectives on product risks and their changing dimensions, product compliance, and its declaration.
Compliance with directives such as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) is no longer a choice for organizations in the high-technology industry. To avoid the consequences...
of non-compliance in terms of revenue losses, low brand equity, reduced customer base and potential penalties, organizations must have a well-defined strategy for compliance with these directives.
Product Innovation
Manufacturers must reduce the cost of product development and R&D to compete effectively in the Flat World. Automotive, machine tools and equipment, and mechanical and electronic sub-system manufacturers have successfully adopted...
outsourcing strategies. Companies, however, continue to face challenges when they outsource design and engineering projects. Before embarking on an outsourcing initiative, companies must evaluate issues such as governmental regulations, incentives and permissions, organizational culture towards outsourcing, and management support. In this white paper, Infosys' expert provides a practitioner's perspective of the challenges that manufacturers face when they outsource design and engineering activities.
Adopting the right sourcing model – captive center vs. vendor partner – can reduce the Total Cost of Ownership and provide long-term flexibility for engineering product development.
High-technology companies are facing mounting pressure on basic R&D and product development operations, due to increasing consumer demand for innovative, feature-rich products accompanied by shrinking product lifecycles and declining...
price points. Globalization of product development is the inevitable next stage to enhance the competitiveness of high-technology companies in the Flat World.
High-tech companies achieve success not only when they bring their products to the market quickly, but also when they create and develop products to meet customer needs, at the right time. ...
This paper identifies key characteristics that predict a company's ability to successfully leverage global sourcing partners for new product development and new product introduction activities.
The Integrated Product Management (IPM) approach must address more than functional improvements in the design phase. It must integrate applications, processes and people across functions and throughout the product lifecycle
The Aerospace industry is interestingly poised as demand is primed to outstrip supply. Efforts to increase supply must contend with higher development costs and increased time-to-market, caused at least in part by a scarcity of engineering skills....
In response, the industry is looking to build a business model that can easily scale up and down in response to the variability in demand. Global product development is a key element of such a flexible, scalable model that offers benefits such as increased speed-to-market, lower costs and enhanced flexibility. The key to successfully implementing a robust global product development capability lies in taking a modular approach to conceptualizing, building and managing a global model for Engineering.
Supply Chain Operations
The ever-flattening world presents supply chain risks. Are companies building flexibility to manage such risks? Infosys experts probe the existing supply chain trends.
Greater variability and uncertainty across global supply chains have increased the complexity of manufacturing and distribution. Infosys experts believe that inventory optimization, backed by advanced technology, is the only way out.
Supplier risk management has gained prominence in the wake of low-cost country outsourcing, geo-political instability and recurrent natural disasters. Infosys proposes a simple Supplier Risk Management (SRM) framework to mitigate such risks.
Financial supply chains are full of untapped savings opportunities. Infosys believes that in an increasingly networked environment, systematic and proven techniques can help realize such opportunities.
This research paper maintains that a 360° approach to looking at where enterprise spends are being made can help procurement departments manage costs better.
In the Flat World, the traditional means of point-to-point integration for collaboration in the automotive supply chain are not feasible. Infosys experts make a case for SOA-based integration platform.
Delivering Business Value through Supply Chain Analytics
Supply chain analytics solutions help managers across the enterprise analyze barriers to market entry, respond to competition within well-defined supply tier structures, deal with the threat of product substitutes, continually drive...
product innovation and manage product lifecycles to maximize returns.
Transforming supply chain data to information and further synthesizing information to knowledge for decision-making is imperative for competitiveness and profitability.
An overwhelming majority (70%) of supply chain managers indicate that managing the global supply chain is the most challenging factor in new product development and product lifecycle management. These challenges are higher...
in priority than mergers and acquisitions (10%) and overlapping value chain (20%). It confirms the growing tendency for manufacturing companies to become lean and focus on their core competencies, while judiciously sourcing and partnering with alliances across the globe.
For any MES/ enterprise integration effort to be manageable and effective, it must adopt a top-down perspective and use processes as the organizational foundation for a staged implementation of integration.
Return rates on purchases have climbed to 20% and more in some sectors, owing to an increase in low-cost, low-contact distribution channels such as the Web. Consequently, customer uncertainty has a significant impact on the corporate...
bottom line. Developing a refined returns management plan can be a vital strategic asset.