Almost 80 percent plan integration with raw-materials suppliers in that time frame, while about 70 percent plan customer integration and 60 percent will forge links with distributors and retailers. Those plans vary widely by region, however. Europe is dealing with the fallout from rigid laws that often forced manufacturers to set up redundant operations in different countries. As the trade and currency barriers fall, however, European companies will be able to consolidate disparate locations and develop processes that extend across the entire European Union. In North America , mergers and acquisitions are important tools that companies use to integrate supply chains.
Strategic partnerships are also a popular supply chain integration strategy.
T he essence of being in the vanguard is a willingness to take risks. And according to author Micheline Maynard, leaders in the worldwide competition among manufacturers are taking plenty of them. In The Global Manufacturing Vanguard , Maynard, Detroit bureau chief for USA Today, takes the reader on a global tour of manufacturing best practices. She casts a sharp reporter's eye on plants in Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Japan and, closer to home, in Indiana and Kentucky. Maynard traces her fascination with automobile plants to a childhood trip with her father to see the workings of a Ford factory.