Abstract

The challenging demand-supply balancing in engineer-to-order (ETO) environments is often attributed to complexity. This study expands the understanding of managing complexity to obtain demand-supply balancing, focussing on the tactical planning logic of the order fulfilment process. An in-depth single case study was conducted and data describing the order fulfilment process at a construction company were collected and analysed. Findings suggest a tactical-level planning process framework, incorporating nine key decisions and three crucial activities, and their potential complexity-reducing and complexity-absorbing impact. The study contributes to the theoretical discussion of complexity in management practices, linking demand-supply balancing as a performance measure. The findings guide practitioners in ETO settings on anticipating potential medium-term consequences of key decisions on capacity. This emphasises the need of proper IT support to apply knowledge generated from previous projects and conduct comprehensive and robust scenario-based analyses.

摘要

在按订单设计 (ETO) 环境中具有挑战性的供需平衡通常归因于复杂性。本研究扩展了对管理复杂性以获得供需平衡的理解，重点关注订单履行过程的战术规划逻辑。进行了深入的单一案例研究，并收集和分析了描述建筑公司订单履行过程的数据。调查结果提出了一个战术级别的规划流程框架，其中包含九个关键决策和三项关键活动，以及它们潜在的降低复杂性和吸收复杂性的影响。该研究有助于对管理实践中的复杂性进行理论讨论，将供需平衡与绩效衡量联系起来。调查结果指导 ETO 环境中的从业人员预测关键能力决策的潜在中期后果。这强调了需要适当的 IT 支持来应用从以前的项目中产生的知识并进行全面而强大的基于场景的分析。