Int. J. Production Economics 89 (2004) 207–216

The evolution towards an integrated steel supply chain:A case study from the UK

Andrew Pottera,*, Robert Masonb, Mohamed Naima, Chandra Lalwania

aLogistics Systems Dynamics Group, Logistics and Operations Management Section, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University,

Aberconway Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff CF10 3EU, UKbLean Enterprise Research Centre, Logistics and Operations Management Section, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, UK

Received 11 April 2002; accepted 18 November 2002

Abstract

Many academics have studied the steel industry with the aim of implementing improvements in the sector. Although

these provide snapshots of the structure of the supply chain, the evolution that has occurred is less well understood.

This paper studies, primarily using process mapping techniques, the evolution of a case study steel supply chain within

the UK over the past decade, drawing both on previous work and current research. The changes that have occurred are

identified and categorised and their impact on inventory, lead times and asset utilisation will be assessed. It has been

proposed that supply chains evolve from a traditional (uncoordinated, disparate, sub-optimal) to an integrated supply

chain structure. The paper concludes that although the steel supply chain has evolved between 1990 and 2001 towards

an integrated structure, there are currently constraints imposed by organisational boundaries.

r 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Supply chain evolution; Integration; Steel industry

1. Introduction

Studies of the steel sector have been carried outby many academics often with the aim ofimplementing improvements in the sector toenhance the performance of the supply chain (forexample, see Taylor, 1999). While this has enableda good knowledge of the supply chain structure atparticular times, the evolution that has occurredover recent years is less well understood. The aimof this paper is to describe the changes that have

taken place during the past decade for a supplychain from the steel industry. This provides anunderstanding of the evolution of the supply chainto its current structure to guide future changemanagement developments. Process mapping tech-niques are used to outline the structures both in1990 and 2001. The changes are classified accord-ing to whether they are strategic, tactical oroperational in nature. Finally, the impact thesehave had on lead times, inventory levels andbehaviour and asset utilisation is discussed.The steel industry is a traditional heavy in-

dustry. Being a commodity product the price iselastic. This makes the various players in thesupply chain ‘‘price takers’’ where the price is set

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*Corresponding author. Tel.: +44-29-2087-6915; fax: +44-

29-2087-4301.

E-mail address: potterat@cardiff.ac.uk (A. Potter).

0925-5273/03/$ - see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/S0925-5273(02)00449-8

at a level that the market will bear. Furthermore,the basic nature of the products means thatdifferentiation is difficult to achieve. With theprice of steel declining over the past 5 yearsmargins are tight making profitability on the basicproducts low. Therefore, companies in the supplychain are increasingly looking to provide extravalue to their customers by improving customerservice or providing additional services such aspainting and grinding.This paper draws on a broad depth of knowl-

edge built up during a long-term relationshipbetween the authors and a cooperating steelcompany, embracing action-based, developmentaland fundamental research. Action-based researchaims to use scientific knowledge to undertake anaction in response to a specific problem, while alsocreating theory about the particular action(Coughlan and Coghlan, 2002). There is verymuch a two-way relationship between the aca-demic and industrial partners in the research. Theimplementation of generic rules into specificcompanies constitutes developmental research.With fundamental research, there is a greateronus upon the academic side where the definitionof the problem and the diagnosis is the responsi-bility of the research team. The industrialpartner takes a more passive role and providesthe necessary access and information (Gill andJohnson, 1997).Initial research with the company was under-

taken in 1989 by a graduate student who carriedout a feasibility study (Griffiths, 1989). This led toan action-based research project supported by theUK government and involving other industrysectors. From the project, generic dynamic modelsand rules of thumb for supply chain re-engineeringwere developed (Hafeez et al., 1996). Subse-quently, a development programme was intro-duced at the company to implement the genericresearch outputs for the specific case. This led toan overall average lead time reduction of 15%. In1996, the Engineering and Physical SciencesResearch Council (EPSRC) funded a doctoralstudent to undertake fundamental research withthe company. This led to a market-focusedoperations management strategy (Naylor, 2000).Currently, the authors are undertaking a 3-year

EPSRC funded project researching the integrationof transport and e-commerce in the supply chain.The on-going relationship has led to consider-

able insight and understanding of the company’sphysical and informational processes. This paperutilises a range of research data sources availableto undertake a longitudinal analysis of a specificsupply chain. There is often a misconception thatcase studies do not provide generalisable results(Ellram, 1996). This case study of the steel supplychain considers whether the process of evolutiondescribed in the literature is occurring. By provid-ing this illustration over time and generalising it topreviously published theory, a greater understand-ing of supply chain evolution can be gained.

2. A steel supply chain

The supply chain investigated in this paper isthat for the supply of steel bars to a variety ofsectors such as structural and general engineering.A schematic of the supply chain can be found inFig. 1. The end user sources their material from asteel stockholder who performs a break bulk rolewithin the supply chain. They order in largequantities from the main producers (on long leadtimes) and then sell the material in small quantitieson short lead times, according to the customer’srequirements (McAdam and Brown, 2001). Thestockholder in this paper has an annual through-put of approximately 25,000 tonnes, making themone of the smaller players in the UK sector. Theysource products from almost 30 different suppliers,although 75% comes from the case study steelcompany.The steel supplier can be classified as a general

steel producer who converts steel scrap into billets,which are then rolled into a variety of steelproducts. One product type is termed ‘merchantbar’ and includes flat and angled beams with asmall cross-section. These represent approximately120 stock keeping units.

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Scrap Steel Producer

Steel Steel Stockholder

End User

Rail TruckTruck

Fig. 1. A schematic of the steel supply chain.

A. Potter et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 89 (2004) 207–216208

The supply chain structure described above canbe found throughout the steel industry in the UK.Taylor (1999) describes a similar structure foundin the manufacture of automotive components.Such differences that exist tend to relate towhether the crude steel is produced from iron oreor is recycled from scrap.

3. The integration of supply chains

Within supply chain management, the impor-tance of integration among the various organisa-tions has been recognised as a means of deliveringenhanced supply chain performance (Daughertyet al., 1996). The seminal work in this area is thatby Stevens (1989), in which an evolutionary modelfor supply chain integration is proposed. Thetraditional baseline structure (Stage I) is charac-terised by limited integration between echelons,with multiple stockholding, incompatible informa-tion control systems and little communication.The disjointed flow of information up the supplychain results in ever increasing variations indemand, an effect often known as bullwhip (Leeet al., 1997).There are two intermediate stages between this

traditional structure and complete integration. Thefirst (Stage II) involves the functional integrationof inward flows, often embracing the principles oflean thinking such as the reduction and removal ofwaste (Womack and Jones, 1996). However, thelack of integration downstream means that man-ufacturing still tends to be unresponsive to changesin customer demand. Stage III involves theextension of this integration to outbound flows.Information control is now completely integratedwithin the echelon which enables manufacturing tobecome more coordinated with incoming customerdemand.The integrated supply chain is the final stage in

supply chain evolution and has recently beentermed the ‘‘seamless supply chain’’ (Towill,1997). Integration is no longer constrained byorganisational boundaries, and extends to bothsuppliers and customers. Consequently, theirbehaviour is coordinated with the ultimate goalof achieving high customer service.

Some of the characteristics of these four stagesare summarised in Table 1. However, because theprocess of integration is a continuum, it is possiblefor a supply chain to display characteristics frommore than one column with some areas being moreadvanced than others.While it is desirable to progress towards an

integrated supply chain, any reduction in theefficacy of the system diminishes and may eveneliminate the operational benefits accrued. There-fore, it is necessary for the supply chain to becomealigned with the demands of the end user marketplace. From this, it is possible to synchronise thesupply chain so that supply matches demand. Asynchronised supply chain represents the nextstage beyond an integrated supply chain (Beech,1998). The characteristics of the supply chain aresimilar to those for Stage IV in Stevens’ model,except that production is more closely coupledwith demand and there is greater efficacy in thesystem.Childerhouse et al. (2000) have codified the

evolutionary integration model and applied it to20 value streams from the automotive sector.Although none portray the characteristics of thetraditional structure, three are shown as under-going functional integration. However, 65% of thevalue streams are in the process of internalintegration, namely Stage III of Stevens’ model.Only four have progressed beyond this stage andtowards external integration. This work particu-larly highlights the continuum of evolution,showing that it is unusual for supply chains todisplay all the characteristics of a particular stage.Stevens (1989) also presents a hierarchical

approach to achieving an integrated supply chainby suggesting change at strategic, tactical andoperational levels. Strategic level developmentsshould look at the supply chain objectives,structure and spatial dimension as well as themarketing approach and organisational structure.In achieving these, the necessary infrastructure, interms of equipment, processes and systems, has tobe provided. These form the basis of tacticalchanges in supply chain evolution, which addi-tionally encompasses target setting for each func-tion. Finally, there are operational developments,which are driven by tactical decisions, and relate to

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A. Potter et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 89 (2004) 207–216 209

the actual operation of the supply chain. Byadopting a vertical approach to integration, theeffectiveness of developing and implementing anintegrated supply chain is improved.

4. The steel supply chain: 1990

Turning to the specific case discussed in thispaper, Fig. 2a shows the process map for thesupply chain in 1990. The end user placed an orderupon the stockholder either by telephone orfacsimile. This order was shipped by road trans-port. Every week, the stockholder manually placeda replenishment order with the steel company.This was influenced by delivery time, steel price,interest rates, incoming demand and stock levels(H(akansson, 1992). Shipments generally occurredby truck once the products had been rolled at themill. Occasionally, shipments would be fromstock, as the mill had a minimum productionbatch size.

On a weekly basis, a production plan for theMedium Section Mill was generated. From this, abillet contract was sent to the steelworks detailingthe requirements for the week ahead. Although thesame company owned both the steelworks and themill, they functioned as independent units withseparate financial targets. From the weekly pro-gramme a daily schedule was produced for themill, but allowed amendments to be made depend-ing upon events during the week. This generated adaily ‘‘call off’’ for billets from the steelworks.Once produced, the bars proceeded into thefinished product warehouse, where they werestored for up to 6 weeks.The steelworks generated a weekly programme

for billet production with the aim of maximisingasset use, as the billets were always sold eventually.Typically, 18,000 tonnes of billets were producedper week to satisfy the demand from threedifferent sources, not just the Medium SectionMill. The billets were held in stock at thesteelworks before being transported to the mill

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Table 1

Characteristics of the four stages in Stevens’ model (Adapted from Stevens (1989) and Towill (1997))

Characteristics Stage I Stage II Stage III Stage IV

Physical flow Functional; uncoordinated

Inbound coordination within boundary

Outbound coordination within boundary

Integrated across boundaries

Inventory

High levels; multiple stock holding between echelons

Each function buffered

No intermediate inventory except at organisational boundaries

Minimal, strategic inventory

Lead times Long Reduction in process time

Reduction in storage and distribution time

Minimised

Decision points

Multiple decision points

Single decision point for each process

Single decision point within company boundary

Coordinated control from single point

Data transfer

Manual – facsimile or telephone

PC based information system

E-commerce E-business

Info

rmat

ion

flow

Visibility No visibility Visibility of inbound logistics

Complete visibility within company

Full pipeline visibility in supply chain

IT systems Separate; incompatible

MRP/MRPII ERP/DRP with MRPII

Integrated along the supply chain

Focus Asset focussed Inbound cost focussed

Outbound cost focussed

Customer focussed

Relationship Management

Parochial management; ad hoc contractual arrangements

Broader management partnership

Management and operational partnership

Multi-level, full relationship management; open book

Key Performance

Indicators None Functional Organisational Supply Chain

A. Potter et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 89 (2004) 207–216210

by rail transport where they were stored again. Thetwo stock holding points were on the same site, butthe transit time was 1 day as the railway wagonshad to be moved via adjacent sidings. They wereoften left for a period of time in the sidings,depending upon the availability of shuntinglocomotives.From the weekly programme, scrap steel was

ordered from suppliers, and this was delivered byboth road and rail. On average 4 days worth ofscrap stock was held at the steelworks.

5. The steel supply chain: 2001

Before analysing in more detail the changes thathave occurred in the steel supply chain, a brief

description of the current process will be given,with reference to Fig. 2b. The interactions betweenthe end user and the stockholder are unchanged.The stockholder now uses spreadsheets to monitorand control stock levels. Replenishment orders arestill placed weekly by the stockholder withadditional variables such as work in progressconsidered. Telephone and facsimile are the mainmethods of transmission to the steel company.Depending on the product, it is either treated as

a make-to-stock (MTS) or make-to-order (MTO)product. With this strategy, orders for the mostpopular lines can almost always be shipped fromstock. The production batch size is based uponcurrent demand with the steel going into stock.Lower volume products are, as before, manufac-tured on a MTO basis. The production rules are

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ScrapCompany

Scrapstock10kT

Billetproduction

Order

4 days 16.25 days 0.25 days 42 days 72 days

End userStockholder

8 week forward plan

ProductionWeekly

Programme

Stockcontroller

SalesDepartment

Stoc

k le

vel

Make-to-StockForecast

Requirements

MTS

MTO

Stock levels

Steelworks and Medium Section MillScrapCompany

Scrapstock10kT

Billetstock7kT

Billetproduction

BarsBundles

14ktBarsMerchant

BarProduction

6kT/wk

Order

Order

4 days 8.75 days 0.25 days 28 days 72 days

Order

Billetstock5kT

BarsBundles

20ktBarsMerchant

BarProduction

6kT/wk

Billetstock2kT

End userStockholder

13 week forward plan

Stockcontroller

SalesDepartment

Stoc

k le

vel

Ord

er

Order

Daily schedule

Steelworks WeeklyProgramme

Bar and Section MillWeekly Programme(orders + percentage)

Daily schedule

OrderOrder

Ord

er

Medium Section MillSteelworks

Billet contract

Dailycall off

b) 2001

a) 1990

Key

Echelonboundary

Manual datatransfer

Electronic datatransfer

Ord

er

Ord

er Operation

Transport

Storage

Total = 134.5 days

Total = 113 days

Fig. 2. Process maps of the case study steel supply chain.

A. Potter et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 89 (2004) 207–216 211

changed so that an additional percentage ofoverage is no longer produced. Information onincoming orders is fed into the production controlsystem, and a weekly plan is generated for both thesteelworks and Medium Section Mill. Both pro-duct types are held as inventory after production—the MTS products pending the placement of anorder and the MTO products until the shipmentdate agreed with the stockholder is reached.Scrap material is still received by both road and

rail transport. Once made into billets, it is loadeddirectly onto railway wagons for transit to theMedium Section Mill. They are placed intoinventory until required whereupon they aremoved by crane to the production line. Once themanufacturing process is complete, the bars passinto the warehouse until shipment. Typically, thereare 12 stock turns per year.

6. Development in the steel supply chain

Within the steel supply chain, there have beenfinancial drivers behind all of the developments.One pressure has been the reduction of costs. Aswell as taking direct action, this has also beenachieved through investment in technology thatdelivers benefits in the medium to long term. It issignificant that the output level per employee overthe period considered has increased by almost100%. Another pressure has been the need toreduce the capital tied up in inventory, particularlyfor finished goods. While these cost pressures aregenerated from within the company there are alsoexternal cost forces imposed by the market. Theseresult from the fluctuating price for scrap steel andthe declining price of finished products in the UK.Developments in information technology havebeen driven by the ability of the sector to providethe appropriate products for the steel sector at anaffordable price. Only within the past few yearshas customer service started to influence thedevelopments in the supply chain.As discussed earlier, Stevens (1989) suggests a

hierarchical framework to achieve an integratedsupply chain. Strategic developments in thechain drive tactical changes that in turn affectoperational aspects. The developments that have

occurred within the steel supply chain over thepast decade can be mapped onto this framework.At a strategic level, the steel company has

undertaken functional integration whereby thesteelworks and Medium Section Mill are no longerseparate units. This occurred during 1999 and hasbrought about a number of benefits, including costreduction through the elimination of duplicationin personnel and systems. Both facilities now havecommon targets rather than being focussed ontheir own production centre. As part of thereorganisation, a logistics department was created,providing a focus upon supply chain issues. Thisstrategic change has enabled two tactical changesto be introduced—an integrated informationsystem and split production order processing,namely MTO and MTS.The integrated information system introduced

during early 2002 has reduced much of theduplication in production control as well asallowing increased information visibility withinthe company. The increased information visibilityhas further enhanced the benefits of eliminatingthe billet inventory at the steelworks. This realisesa cost benefit because the double handling of thebillets at the steelworks no longer occurs. Therehas also been a reduction in decision-makingwithin the supply chain, with a single point ofcontrol for both the steelworks and MediumSection Mill.As outlined earlier, products are either classi-

fied as MTS or MTO according to their salesvolumes with the production of the former beingforecast driven and the latter being sales driven.Operationally, this splitting of production hasintroduced pipeline control into the MTS decision-making process and ensures that stock availabilityis not compromised. Further, there has been areduction in the production cycle time (the timebetween production batches), in many cases byone half. The effectiveness of the MTS/MTOstrategy has been increased with the introductionof the improved information system. The MTS/MTO system was implemented during September2001.The impact of these changes on the supply chain

will now be considered with respect to inventory,lead times and asset utilisation.

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6.1. Impact on inventory

There are three main inventory staging pointswithin the company, namely scrap material, billetsand finished bars. Over the past decade there hasbeen no change in the inventory level of scrapsteel. This reflects the relatively low cost of storingthis raw material and the economies availablefrom having bulk rail deliveries. Billet stock levelsare the same when compared to 1990 although theinventory is now concentrated in one location.There has been a reduction in the volume of goodsin transit between the steelworks and MediumSection Mill due to a reduction in the transit timebetween the two locations.There has been a significant reduction in the

volume of finished bars stored at the steelworks.The steel company has reduced inventorylevels steadily over the decade by 2,000 tonnes.The move to MTS/MTO and the associatedoperational changes are beginning to have asignificant impact on inventory levels. Cycle timesfor many of the popular product lines havebeen halved, reducing the level of safety stockrequired. Overall, this newly implemented strategyhas reduced stocks by an additional 4,000 tonnesor 20%, with further gains anticipated in thefuture.While it is important to look at overall stock

levels within the system, it is beneficial to look atthe behaviour of the inventory found after thedecoupling point in response to demand andmanufacturing processes. Fig. 3 shows these rela-tionships for the steel supply chain both in 1990and currently, with the effect of the MTS/MTOstrategy being detailed. In 1990, production by themill was level due to the policy of manufacturingwhat was ordered plus an overage allowance.Therefore, variability in inventory levels existed.The two components of the current manufactur-

ing strategy have different impacts on productionand inventory levels. With MTO, production isdirectly proportional to incoming demand and istherefore variable while inventory levels remainconstant. For MTS products, production is con-stant with inventory varying according to custo-mer demand. Combined, these strategies causevariability in both production and inventory

levels. Changes in the level of output are smalland occur because MTO products, which are lowvolume lines, influence production. The inventorylevel is more variable, being determined by theMTS products. This potentially has consequencesfor storage requirements with the warehouseeffectively needing elastic walls.

6.2. Impact on lead times

The lead time for merchant bar production hasdecreased from 19 to 16 weeks, a reduction of16%. Reasons for this include the concentration ofbillet stocks in one location, process improvementwithin the Medium Section Mill and the reducedcycle times. The information lead time has alsobeen reduced. The rolling schedules issued are nowfor the following 8 weeks rather than the next 13.

6.3. Impact on asset utilisation

Asset utilisation is important in the steel sectorgiven the cost structure of the industry. In 1990,production was based around an economic batchsize that effectively smoothed incoming demandand maximised the use of the assets at thesteelworks and Medium Section Mill. Havingimplemented MTO/MTS, however, there is the

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2001

1990

MTO

Combined

MTS

Production InventoryDemandpattern

Fig. 3. The relationship between production, inventory and

demand.

A. Potter et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 89 (2004) 207–216 213

potential for this utilisation to decrease, aseconomic batch sizes may not be achieved. Withthe MTO products, production is directly linked toorders with no overage allowance to achieve a fullbatch size. In planning MTS production, existingstock levels feedback into the production deci-sions. This introduces variability in productionwith the potential for the bullwhip effect topropagate within the supply chain.The changes implemented by the company have

brought about benefits to the supply chain as itprogresses towards full integration. In particular,there has been a net reduction in costs within thecompany. Those costs associated with implement-ing new systems and procedures are far out-weighed by the benefits of reduced inventory,shorter lead times and potentially improvedcustomer service levels.

7. Analysis of the evolution

In order to assess the degree of integrationwithin the steel supply chain, the characteristics ofthe previous and current structure have beenoverlaid on Table 1. In addition, intermediatestages showing the characteristics in 1995 and 1999have been added. The positioning within theseyears has been determined with reference toNaylor (2000) and company reports from through-out the 1990s. The choice of 1995 has no majorsignificance, merely representing the mid-point inthe period considered. With the major changesthat are described above having started during1999, this intermediate stage enables their effect tobe highlighted.As can be seen from Table 2, the supply chain

was very functional in 1990, with the character-istics being reflective of a company at Stage I ofthe Stevens model.By 1995, there had been improvements in a

number of areas in the supply chain. Particularfocus was on process improvements and has beensupported by some investment to improve theequipment used. In 1994, d10 million was spentimproving the Medium Section Mill. New rollingstands were installed and the automatic bundlingof finished products introduced. This enabled the

mill to become a fully continuous production line.Information systems were also upgraded, althoughincompatibility remained. This gradual changecontinued over the next 4 years, with most of thecharacteristics being brought up to those expectedof a Stage II company.In 2001, some characteristics have achieved

Stage III. Of those that have reached thisadvanced stage, the changes in the physical flowof the products reflects the integration of thebusiness units while the reduction in the number ofdecision points and visibility have been facilitatedby the integrated information control system.Lead time reductions have been influenced by theadoption of the MTS/MTO system. The change infocus to encompass both manufacturing anddistribution costs has been influenced by externalforces such as the decreasing price of steel and theconsequent tightening of margins.

8. Conclusion

Over the past decade, the steel supply chainstudied has undergone changes at a strategic,tactical and operational level. These changes canbe fitted within the hierarchical framework pro-posed by Stevens (1989) and shown in Fig. 4. Themajor strategic change has been functional inte-gration within the steel company, with theproduction units now having combined goals andtargets. This has facilitated the implementation ofseveral tactical improvements including an inte-grated information control system and distinctiveproduction processes for different product types.To achieve this, there have been a number ofoperational changes. The main driver behind thesechanges has been cost reduction with the need tokeep abreast of developments in informationtechnology another influence. Customer servicehas only recently emerged as a driver of change.The overall impact has been to reduce inventorylevels by 16% and lead times also by 16%. Assetutilisation may have decreased through the use ofvariable input signals into the production quantitydecisions.The integration that occurred has embraced

both inbound and outbound material flows with

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the resultant characteristics being representative ofa supply chain that has progressed beyond Stage IIof the Stevens model. Using the table of char-acteristics, management can reflect upon wherepotential improvements can be made in order toimprove the supply chain. By comparing their

position with other companies within or outsidethe sector, opportunities for benchmarking betterpractice can be identified. For progressionbeyond Stage III, integration must cross theorganisational boundaries that currently exist toinclude both raw material suppliers and stock-holders.The approach taken in this paper shows that the

changes that have occurred within the steel supplychain can be applied to previously describedtheory on supply chain evolution. This enablesthe generalisation of the work and advances theunderstanding of integration by illustrating thedynamic process that is occurring.Further work will look to compare the steel

supply chain with others drawn from both the steelindustry and other sectors. They will be mappedonto the table of characteristics to provide a directcomparison with the steel supply chain studied. Anattempt will also be made to codify the resultsallowing a comparative assessment as to the degreeof integration to be made. Consideration will also

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Integration of business units

Integrated information

control

Make-to-stock & Make-to-order manufacture

Concentration of billets

Fewer decisionpoints

Pipeline control

Reduced manufacturing

cycles

STRATEGIC

TACTICAL

OPERATIONAL

IMPACTInventory Lead times Asset utilisation

Fig. 4. Development of an integrated steel supply chain.

Table 2

Position of the steel supply chain within Stevens’ model

1990 200119991995

Stag

e I

Stag

e II

Stag

e II

I

Stag

e IV

Stag

e I

Stag

e II

Stag

e II

I

Stag

e IV

Stag

e I

Stag

e II

Stag

e II

I

Stag

e IV

Stag

e I

Stag

e II

Stag

e II

I

Stag

e IV

Info

rmat

ion

flow

Key PerformanceIndicators

Physical flow

Inventory

Lead times

Decisionpoints

Datatransfer

Visibility

IT systems

Focus

Relationshipmanagement

Characteristics

A. Potter et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 89 (2004) 207–216 215

be made as to the potential future structure of thesupply chain.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the helpthey have received from employees at the casestudy steel company, in particular Stuart Meldrumand Steve Severs. We would also like to thank thereferees for their constructive comments.

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