Förändringar inom materialförsörjning till följd av globala inköp: En fallstudie på ABB Robotics, Västerås

Due to today’s competitive business environment it is fairly common that Swedish companies, as a part of cost reduction measures, consider new suppliers in low-cost countries. Global trading and purchasing has increased greatly the past few years but its effects on an organization’s material supply are not usually investigated to the same extent.ABB Robotics, manufacturer of industrial robot systems, situated in Västerås commits themselves to global trading. The organization is facing big changes during 2007 since a part of its European supplier base will be exchanged to Asian suppliers. The purpose of this Master thesis was to investigate how and to what extent the material supply at ABB Robotics will be affected by the change of supplier base. The overall goal of the thesis is to develop a model regarding the effects global sourcing has on an organization’s material supply and handling, with focus on the inbound activities.Two Microsoft Excel based simulation tools has been developed as a part of this Master thesis in order to be able to map out the global sourcing venture and its effects on ABB Robotics. The first of these two tools calculates how the level of safety stock will change due to the global sourcing. Results from this tool indicate an average increase of the safety stock by 700 % compared to today’s safety stock levels. However, the tool is constructed in such a way as to enable simulation by changing the values of a number of parameters. These values can in a simple manner be changed and thus showing their effects on the safety stock level.The second tool simulates the inbound delivery pattern during the rampdown of the current supplier base and ramp-up of the new supplier base. The results of this tool provide a view over the inbound inventory levels, their variation during the supplier base change as well as the size and occurrence of peak inventory levels.A study and an analysis of ABB Robotics’ work procedures and plans for the upcoming global purchasing venture have been conducted as part of this Master thesis. Parameters derived to materials supply that are affected by the global purchasing plans has been mapped out as well as their effects. Recommendations regarding how ABB Robotics should act and respond throughout the process of changing the supplier base have been listed.The authors have also developed three general purpose models to point out global purchasing and its effect on an organization from a materials supply point of view. Two of these models focus on changes in measurable and nonmeasurable parameters and their internal relationships whilst the third model focus on correlations between different parameters.