cooperation

As a result of disruptions in the supply chain, enhancing resilience has become imperative. Upon reevaluating risks associated with the supply side, it is necessary to shift our perspective on inventory management. Drawing from proven and practical solutions, we should focus on implementing swift measures to bolster stock levels and transition from single sourcing to multiple sourcing. Furthermore, embracing digitization will significantly enhance the efficiency of the supply chain as well as the identification of faults. (Only in German)

The majority of international transport is processed via maritime transport chains, which contribute significantly to global emissions of CO2. As a result, companies attempt to reduce the pollution by optimizing processes and by introducing environmental friendly technologies. However, initiatives are rather pursued on an individual company level than in an inter-actor cooperation. This strategy is ineffective because the key for sustainable operations in a transport chain is the alignment of linking intersections. This paper examines opportunities for the successful implementation of Eco-Innovations along the maritime transport chain as well as its actual adaption. Boundary-spanning cooperation with “landside” actors has been identified as the largest lever for a successful implementation of Eco-Innovations.

The increasing demand for collaborative value chains challenges the IT. Both the integration of a heterogeneous and complex process and IT-landscape in a short time and the flexible support of new requirements from the business have to be assured. The dynamism of cooperation makes an exact planning of implementation and IT-costs exceedingly difficult. Therefore, the article shows a method that allows a systematic and structured planning and design of the IT in value-added networks.

The strong geographical dislocation of automotive production networks is responsible for the increasing traffic volume between Western and Eastern Europe. The limited volume of shipments of individual companies often prevents them from accessing cost-efficient and highly productive transportation networks. This paper depicts then great potential of novel regional, cross-company transport bundling for enterprises and it proposes a simulation and evaluation model as well as an organisation model for a cross-company co-operation.

The technical universities which were founded after India’s independence fulfil the dream of the first prime minister Nehru of an advanced and self-sufficient India. Universities such as the IIT Delhi have the ambition to play in the international top league. Multinationals like IBM are attracted by the large number of talented engineers and scientists and have numerous cooperations with Indian universities. American and European universities are trying to integrate Indian students and graduates in their curriculum and research. This article gives an overview on the diverse Indian university and research landscape and shows which advantages western companies and universities have by working together with Indian top-universities.

For already cooperating businesses, a question that often occurs is: which potential cooperation activities under the given conditions can be developed and how can they be evaluated? To the authors’ knowledge, there is no structured and validated procedure for the identification and evaluation of existing cooperation potentials. This usually occurs through a subjective assessment by cooperation experts and is highly dependent on the experience of the persons involved. Therefore a method is presented which makes a structured and valid identification of cooperation potentials in existing inter-company relations possible.

Many companies have difficulties managing the recent situation of competition. Some companies achieve only small cost savings through the use of rationalization strategies. Network cooperations, however, offer many possibilities to successfully take advantage of efficiency increasing synergy effects. All participating companies can concentrate harder on their core business and achieve other features in cooperation with partner companies. This development concerns major enterprises as well as medium-sized businesses. While Outsourcing can be seen as a routine job for major enterprises, it poses problems for medium-sized businesses. These companies are lacking the necessary experience as well as tools to evaluate Outsourcing. This contribution points out the problems, that are related to Outsourcing in medium-sized businesses and demonstrates solutions.

One main impetus for the participation of enterprises in cooperations can be characterized by the e-business phenomenon. Increased supplier demands concerning flexibility, costs, and quality require a flexible potential to participate in constantly new cooperations. The model concept illustrated in this article is supposed to support the mutability of enterprises by use of intermediary services between cooperating units that are suitable to aid the partnership.

In order to meet rising and fast changing requirements companies have to reconfigure their production systems in ever shorter periods. The temporary character of production systems, the rise of complexity as well as a rising number of intra- and inter-organizational cooperation are the logical results of this development. Managing the production as a project is an innovative and promising concept for coping with the resulting challenges. This article introduces the concept of a Project-oriented Production and describes a way for the cooperative planning and designing of modular production systems within 3D planning rooms.