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Roadmap to the e-Factory
business processes, and price reductions due to instant global competition,
the reality is that much — if not most — of the benefit from e-business
activities will come from more efficient internal and external processes, shorter
cycle times in order fulfillment, and small inventory levels.
The benefit of the e-supply chain will be in smaller inventories and faster
throughput through the supply chain. This is important because inventory
overhangs drive the downside of business cycles deeper and cause the upside
of business cycles to experience hot, inflationary increases.
The benefit of the e-factory will be in more productivity, shorter cycle
times, and smaller inventory levels. The e-factory will make the nodal network
model ...