Enabling flexibility in supply chain management through the application of product design prinicples

The current trend to shortening product lifecycles and the uncertainty in the dynamics of global markets force companies to increase flexibility in supply chain management (SCM). In spite of the importance of the interde-pendencies between product design and supply chains, the contribution of product design principles (PDP) to SCM flexibility has not been, so far, sufficiently investigated in the scientific literature. This study provides a framework that combines PDP and SCM from a flexibility perspective. A literature review is used to develop the framework, which is then tested using discrete event simulation. The simulation model takes the PDPs: modularity, component commonality, and postponement, and the supply chain variables: configuration and coordination into account. The simulation results provide compelling evidence that the combination of modularity and postponement lead to higher flexibility in SCM. In general, we conclude that SCM flexibility can be increa sed by applying PDP, thus improving the competitiveness level of companies.