Configure-to-Order (CTO) Production Through Lean Initiatives: Manufacturing Delivery in COVID-19 Pandemic Milieu

• Main Authors: Khoo, Teng Leong, Hock, Oo Yu
• Format: Journal
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: HF Commerce
• Online Access: http://ur.aeu.edu.my/825/1/EJMCM_Volume%207_Issue%203_Pages%20494-505.pdf; http://ur.aeu.edu.my/825/
• Institution: Asia e University

Manufacturing is a critical demand-supply chain of production to meet consumption needs in fulfilment of contractual obligation under planned delivery schedule or on-demand as needed. This is particularly the case with certain manufacturing concerns that continue to advocate a normative practice of market-response or business-purchase reactions as and when it arises. The maintenance of capital-intensive production and highcost related products are examples of a typical and common business process in operations management that is reactive rather than proactive. However, as a Business Process Improvement (BPI) strategy that works beyond the practice of normative manufacturing is this proposed model of configure-to-order (CTO) production through lean initiatives. It is a proactive change-driven flexible-adaptive manufacturing enabler that produces evershorter delivery times, with economies of scale, operational efficiency, systemic-aligned management and overall productive organizational effectiveness. A case in point is the agility of medical equipment and related products manufacturing business during an unexpected surge of not only critical demand but urgent-fast delivery for its products to combat the death-threatening crisis of Covid-19 pandemic onslaught. In essence, the adoption of ‘lean’ initiatives that incorporates a combined approach of ‘lean’ and ‘agile’ elements - capsulated in the acronym of ‘leagility’ – is a hybrid strategy that facilitates CTO production to deliver the output on time, the result-expected secured and outcomeanticipated fulfilled