欧州市場へのグローバル供給戦略と課題

空調事業D社の事例を通じて

抄録

This paper describes the global supply network for the booming European Residential Air Conditioning Market through a Japanese Air Conditioning Manufacturing Company (hereinafter, the Company) which is the second largest manufacturer in the world. The Air Conditioning market has been growing globally, and it is rapidly increasing and expanding, especially in the low-end market. Therefore, it is necessary for the Air Conditioning manufacturers to develop not only the production system but also the supply network according to the characteristics of the market demand for the Air Conditioning business. For this business, it is not only important to secure (increase) the production volumes, but consideration of when, where, which models, how many, and where to supply is also very important. It is especially difficult to produce the appropriate quantity and supply for the market (in order to fulfill the abovementioned conditions) while projecting the top sales season and avoiding any loss of sales opportunity without also over producing. This is because the sale of Air Conditioners is highly influenced by climate/weather conditions such as a heat wave or cool summer.
To realize the product supply without any negative impact against business, it is absolutely essential to improve the infrastructure for the production capacity itself. It is also extremely important to establish the appropriate production system, which can reflect the market demand directly into the production plan. In addition, a steady business improvement (e. c. Kaizen activities) is vital, which can make progress in the supply capability to deliver the completed product to market without the necessity of storing production in factories. To attempt to minimize the loss of sales opportunity, the supply plan for the Company's European branches is a combination from two regions, Europe (the nearest production to market) and Asia which are coordinated according to the strength of each supply system. Even with this two-supply system, especially in view of the market growth in emerging countries, the current supply system of the Company still has some weak points. This paper introduces an idea to overcome the weak points and find countermeasures for them.