Factory-on-demand and smart supply chains: the next challenge

Andy Groves, the Chairman of Intel, recently suggested that in five years time all companies will be internet companies, or they won't be companies at all. For many companies, the ability to "mass customise" is no longer a differentiator but an imperative. The notion of Factory-on-Demand (FOD) promotes the ability to mass customise in a "lean" and "agile" production environment through a collection of production centres. FOD is an electronic network production system which links and shares manufacturing resources in geographically dispersed small firms. In such an environment, as the number of product options increases and the number of supply chain options expands, matching product supply with consumer demand becomes a daunting task. This paper develops a positive understanding of some of the issues and challenges of building a responsive supply chain system in the context of our on-going research on designing the FOD network.