Supply Chain Analysis and Modeling for the Manufactured Housing Industry

Abstract

In today’s competitive environment, managing the entire supply chain becomes a key factor for the successful business. However, the manufactured housing (MH) industry has mainly focused on manufacturing and quality improvements in the past years. It is important for the MH industry to extend its focus to the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire supply chain. In this paper, as a first step, current supply chain practices in the manufactured housing industry have been identified and analyzed along with the characteristics of customer, retailer, and manufacturer. This analysis assists the supply chain participants in planning new products and preparing for new consumer needs. As a result, the entire supply chain process was modeled and a conceptual supply chain model was developed. This conceptual supply chain model can be used for understanding the current supply chain relationship at the macro level as well as a framework for developing a supply chain management system for the manufactured housing industry.