LOGISTIC S & SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
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‘Time to market’ and ‘time to volume’ are powerful metrics employed by com-
panies such as Sony and Canon where short life cycles dictate a focus on rapid
response to fast-changing technologies and volatile customer demand.
In the past, the focus of many companies was primarily on efficiency, i.e. a con-
tinuing search for lower costs, better use of capacity, reduced inventories and so
on. These are still worthy goals today but the priority has shifted. Now the empha-
sis must be on effectiveness. In other words the challenge is to create strategies
and procedures that will enable organisations to become the supplier of choice
and to sustain that position through higher levels of customer responsiveness. ...