Information Technology Reference
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Figure 6. Product structure of a recently released Nokia handset
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2 possible suppliers
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2 possible suppliers
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D
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2 possible suppliers
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seconds, whereas the spreadsheet solution would have required several days (5 days with the optimistic
target of 10 demand supply networks analyzed per day) to complete the job. The Nokia logistics team
has established a target of one-week lead time for all demand supply network analyses (i.e. each week
a new analysis report is generated based on the most current data). The spreadsheet method could not
support this requirement because of time required for hand-generation of networks. With the new tool,
this leadtime is feasible. The next subsection gives sample analysis times for problems of different
complexity.
Usage and Performance Data in Nokia Environment
The tool has been actively used inside Nokia's business groups since February 10, 2005. The number of
concrete product programs studied is over 300 at the end of January 2008. A product program represents
a possible handset or network element under development that may or may not come to the market.
The granularity of analyses is different in each business unit. The handset business units, where the
volumes are large, consider few big customers, usually representing sales areas. The network business,
where volumes are lower, relative logistics costs higher, and margins thinner, the granularity is more
precise. The customers are modeled at least on a country level. A study where the method was applied
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