With the development of scientific and technological progress, electronic products are replaced rapidly and the products¡¦ life cycles are shorter than before. Therefore, products¡¦ price are reducing sharply due to market is unpredictable. Electronics Manufacturing Service (EMS) companies are facing competitive pressure with speedy production and price reduction continuously. Moreover, under the phenomenon of the bigger corporation the better operation and economic of scale leading the industry competition, cost and speed are part of key factors to be survival consequently. If medium and small size EMS companies cannot match customers¡¦ requirement, their future to the consequence will be closed or be merged. Hence, to perform an individual company¡¦s competitive ability cannot only rely on internal resource and capability, but also cross boundary between each company. This means companies could win the opportunities by cooperating with customers and supplier in the same supply chain. ¡§Collaborative Commerce¡¨ as productive management skill is for this reason an important research topic recently in business administration. This research applies ¡§System Dynamics Theory¡¨ to collect the relative data and built up a model to achieve the case company¡¦s structure. According to the industry¡¦s characteristic, the researcher simulated and analyzed the incidence of applying collaborative commerce. Moreover, the researcher also discussed the case company¡¦s variance under different dimension, i.e. management strategy, processes of collaborative operation, and benefit anticipated. As a result, applying collaborative commerce provide a good explanation on how it is important for a company to coordinate with external resource, upgrade a company¡¦s management efficiency and adjust a company¡¦s strategy. The conclusions of this research were as followed. Firstly, because of the demand¡¦s uncertainty, inventory was also variance and this was called ¡§Bullwhip Effect¡¨. Moreover, triple collaboration was more efficiency to solve the problem from Bullwhip Effect and reduce the loss occurring by inventory variance. Secondly, the results were not certainly equal between originator and participator. However, Collaborative Commerce can provide effective function for supply chain on productive management. Thirdly, we could monitor the problems of collaboration function while applying dynamical simulation method in practical business and examine the executive outcome. Moreover, this could also be a research instrument when companies analyze Supply Chain Collaboration.

In order to make company work efficiently, managers often divide an enterprise into several functions or departments, such as sales, marketing, human resource, finance and manufacture. However, in this structure, managers would fail to see the wood for the trees. Because each department manager has to be responsible for his own performance, which may easily leads these managers to make decisions that are fit for their department instead of the whole company. Therefore, it¡¦s impossible for companies to make an optimized decision in a dynamic environment. As we enlarge space and time, we can find out that decisions may influence one by another, and the feedback of each decision has a long time delay which makes the manager try to see the wood for the trees even harder. For one manager who tries to show up his performance in a short time will leave the side effect which caused by time delay to other people. What even worse is they can¡¦t predict how much side effect is behind. In this research, we used system dynamics and systems thinking to develop our system dynamics model for the case study. And we developed a MFS(management flight simulator) as a learning tool. Students who manipulate this MFS can enrich their ability to see the wood for the trees. In this case study, we choose a factory which provide electronic product assemble services as a research object. The company was established since AD 1989 until now. After first five years hard working time, it started to grow up stably by keeping changing the product and service. In this industry, success is relied on product quality, price, service and delivery time. Only by making the optimized decision in this competition market can gain better performance. This thesis simulated the case company surface mount technology plant from 1995 to 2006 for 12 years. Students can make different decisions to obtain different equity and capital equipment to evaluate their performance. By different result, simulators can reconsider the structure which is behind the game and their own mental models. After learning from this virtual world, players will find out that their own mental models influencing the final result. From the result and experience, one simulator can accumulate their know-how for the next game. After experiencing this double loop learning process, player will finally learn how to make the best decisions by systems thinking for the real world. Keywords : System Dynamics¡BSystems Thinking¡BDynamic Complexity¡BEnterprise Modeling¡BManagement Flight Simulator¡BSurface Mount Technology(SMT)¡BElectronic Manufacturing Services(EMS)

The trend of outsourcing within the electronic industry has contributed to the creation of new types of extended enterprises. These extended enterprises must be able to manage a challenging situation with shorter product life cycles and increased collaboration between companies during the vital product introduction process. For the electronic industry, which is currently acting in an “era of hyper-competition”, it is a challenge to implement an efficient and flexible collaboration within an extended enterprise during the product introduction process. In the product introduction process, a product design is prepared for and transferred into production. During the course of this research, the electronic industry has changed continuously. Empirical data were first collected within an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that was responsible for its own production. Based on a strategic decision at the OEM, a new extended enterprise was established. In general, these new extended enterprises within the electronic industry consist of: a “product owner” in the form of an OEM that owns the product design and its brand; a “producer” in the form of an Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) company that is responsible for the production; and suppliers of services, material, components, equipment etc. However, in the later stages of this research the studied EMS was responsible for the product introduction, production and distribution of the product to the end user. In order to compare and contrast trends and lessons learned in similar industries, case studies within the mechanical engineering and aerospace industries also were performed. The dissertation primarily describes the process of collaborative product introduction (PI) within the electronic industry, and presents among other things a number of general conditions for efficient collaborative PI within an EE in that industry. First, a clearly communicated definition of what is included in product introduction is needed. A second condition is that early participation from all involved partners in the EE’s product introduction process supports efficient collaboration. Third, clear communication and information handling within the extended enterprise – both internally and externally – was found to facilitate collaboration. Fourth, business approaches should be built on trust, reliability and respect for each other’s competence. Finally, the importance of cultural awareness, both between different companies and countries, cannot be ignored. This research also presents a framework for supporting collaborative product introduction within an extended enterprise, which serves to both synthesize and summarize much of the research. / On the day of the public defence the status of article VIII was Accepted and the title was "Coordination in Collaborative Manufacturing Mega-Networks: Observations from a Case in the Commercial Aerospace Industry".

為了在競爭的環境中生存甚至是成長，企業可能會採取外包策略，請外部廠商負責處理非核心業務，而專注企業之有限資源於具有核心競爭力的活動。如何選擇外包廠商對於外包策略的執行成效有深切的影響，因為外包廠商會直接影響到企業價值鏈的最終產出結果。因此，本論文採取個案研究法對三家跨國公司進行深度訪談，以了解電子業之品牌廠商對於委外代工廠（製造服務供應商或研發製造服務供應商）的選擇程序與評估項目。 根據研究結果，本論文提出一套一般性的委外代工廠選擇程序。依照所考慮的委外代工廠種類之不同，該選擇程序建議五至六個階段（Market Research, General Survey, Specific Survey, Trial Run (optional), Verification Survey, and Decision Making），同時建議各階段應考慮的評估項目。本論文亦根據研究結果，對於欲建立委外代工廠選擇程序之品牌廠商以及委外代工廠提出相關建議。 / In order to survive and even to grow in the competitive environment, enterprises may adopt outsourcing strategy to focus on their core competency and to have external suppliers to handle the other activities. How to select a proper outsourcing supplier is very critical to the implementation of outsourcing strategy because outsourcing suppliers will affect the final outcome of the whole value chain very much. Therefore, this thesis studies in the electronic industry to understand the process and evaluation criteria of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to select contract manufacturers (which are electronic manufacturing services, EMS, providers or original design manufacturers, ODMs). Case study is applied as the research method and three multinational companies are in-depth interviewed for this study. Based on the research results, a general contract manufacturer selection process is proposed. This general process has five to six stages (Market Research, General Survey, Specific Survey, Trial Run (optional), Verification Survey, and Decision Making), depending on the kind of contract manufacturers under consideration. Corresponding evaluation criteria are also recommended for usage in each stage of the selection process. According to the research results, recommendations are made for OEMs which are planning to establish a contract manufacturer selection process and for contract manufacturers which are being surveyed.

Dagens företag lägger ner allt mer tid och resurser på att utöka variantfloran i deras produktsortiment. Syftet är att nå ut till ett bredare segment av kunder samtidigt som företaget behåller en konkurrenskraftig position på marknaden. Vid framtagning av nya produkter ställs Axis Communications ofta inför utmaningen att ta beslut om att tillverka en eller flera varianter. I dagsläget tas beslut om att tillverka fler varianter i produktsortimentet utifrån priset på direkt material och försäljningsvolymen för varje variant. Axis Communications saknar därmed kunskap om vilka ytterligare faktorer som påverkas när beslut om variantskapande ska tas. Syftet med studien är att ta fram en beräkningsmodell som kan användas som beslutsunderlag vid analys av kostnader i att tillverka mer än en produktvariant. För att besvara syftet har studien genomfört två fallstudier utifrån två olika produkter i Axis Communications produktsortiment. Den första fallstudien analyserar nuläget av tillverkningen hos Axis Communications kontraktstillverkare där kostnader som påverkas av att flera varianter tillverkas identifieras och beräknas. Den andra fallstudien är en fiktivt fallstudie där de identifierade kostnaderna beräknas på nytt men då endast en variant tillverkas och resterande varianter tagits bort. Därefter utfördes en analys på hur de identifierade kostnaderna påverkas vid tillverkning av endast en variant. Utifrån litteraturstudier har de kostnader som påverkas i samband med att flera varianter tillverkas identifierats. Vidare har även processkartläggningar samt ett studiebesök hos en av Axis Communications kontraktstillverkare genomförts där ytterligare relevanta kostnader identifierats och bekräftats av personer med bred kunskap inom området. De kostnader som identifierats i studien och som därmed ansett påverkas mest av att variantfloran förändras är följande: Direkta särkostnader Direkt material Lagerföringskostnader Ställkostnader Fixtur- och verktygskostnader Indirekta särkostnader Kvalitetskostnader Time to Market Investeringskostnader Resurskostnader för utveckling av mekanik Resurskostnader för utvecklig av elektronik Certifieringskostnader Verktygskostnader Kostnader för test av produktion Kostnader för framtagning av prototyper Resultatet för direkt material visade att det går att utgå från ett medelvärde av priset för direkt material samt den prognostiserade försäljningsvolymen per variant för att skapa sig en första uppfattning om hur mycket variantskapande egentligen kostar. Lagerföringskostnaden visade sig också påverkas vid tillverkning av endast en variant. Lagerföringskostnaden minskade i lagret för komponenter men ökade samtidigt i färdigvarulagret eftersom att det endast är den dyrare varianten med avseende på direkt material som tillverkas då det är den variant som har samtliga funktioner jämfört med resterande varianter. Ställkostnaden eliminerades helt då ställtiderna som uppstår vid byte av varianter i tillverkningen försvann. Vidare så halverades kostnaderna för fixturer och verktyg. Kvalitetskostnaden visade sig vara svårare att kvantifiera, dock gick det att inse att desto högre volym som tillverkas av en variant desto fortare når varianten de uppsatta kvalitetsmålen vilket i sin tur bidrar till lägre kvalitetskostnader. Dessutom innebär ett lägre antal varianter i en och samma produktionslina att hanteringen blir lättare då bland annat risken för felmontering minskar. Det blir även lättare att identifiera, prioritera samt åtgärda fel som kan tänkas uppstå i produktionslinan. Det leder i sin tur till att kvalitetskostnaderna minskar. Time to Market påverkades också när endast en variant tillverkades. Även om Time to Market inte direkt kan ses som en kostnad utan snarare som ett intäktsbortfall, påvisade studien att det går fortare att få fram produkterna på marknaden om antalet varianter minskar. Slutligen studerades olika investeringskostnader som går att koppla till tillverkningen av flera varianter och resultatet visade på att det går att minska investeringskostnaderna om endast en variant tillverkas. Utifrån resultatet från de två fallstudierna utformades en beräkningsmodell åt Axis Communications som ska hjälpa företaget med att ta beslut om variantskapande. Beräkningsmodellen lyfter fram de kostnader som påverkas mest av en förändring i variantfloran tillsammans med en beskrivning av hur kostnaderna ska beräknas. Med hjälp av beräkningsmodellen kan Axis Communications beslut om variantskapande underlättas jämfört med hur de tar beslut idag. / Today’s companies spend a significant amount of time and resources on increasing the number of product variants in their product range. The aim is to reach a wider segment of customers while maintaining a competitive position in the market. When developing new products, Axis Communications is often faced with the challenge of deciding whether to focus on one or more product variants. At present, focus is directed towards developing more product variants in the product range based on the price of direct material and the sales volume for each variant. Axis Communications therefore lacks knowledge of what additional factors that are affected when decisions about creating more product variants are taken. The purpose of the study is to provide a calculation model that can be used as a basis for analysing costs in producing more than one product variant. In order to achieve this purpose, the study has carried out two case studies based on two different products in Axis Communications product range. The first case study analyses the current state of production at Axis Communications’ contracted manufacturers, where costs that are affected by the production of multiple variants are identified and calculated. The second case study is a fictitious case study where the identified costs are calculated again, but only when one product variant is manufactured and the remaining product variants are disregarded. This was followed by an analysis regarding how the identified costs are affected when only one product variant is manufactured. Based on literature studies, the costs associated with the production of several variants have been identified. Furthermore, process flow charts have been developed and a study visit to one of Axis Communications contracted manufacturers was undertaken, where additional relevant costs have been identified and confirmed by persons with broad knowledge about the manufacturing processes. The costs identified to be affected the most by the variation of product variants are as follows: Direct incremental costs Direct material Inventory carrying costs Setup costs Fixture- and tooling costs Indirect incremental costs Quality costs Time to Market Investment costs Resource costs for the development of mechanics Resource costs for the development of electronics Certification costs Tooling costs Costs for testing of production Costs for prototyping The result for direct material showed that an average of the price of direct material as well as the forecasted production volume for each product variant can be assumed to create an initial perception of how much an increase of product variants actually costs. The inventory carrying cost also proved affected by the manufacturing of only one product variant. The inventory carrying cost decreased in the inventory of components but increased at the same time in the finished goods inventory since it is only the most expensive product variant with all functions compared to the other product variants that is being stored. The setup cost was eliminated since the setup times that occurred when changing product variants in the production disappeared. Furthermore, the cost of fixtures and tools was halved. The quality cost proved to be harder to quantify, however, it was realized that the higher the volume produced by a product variant the faster the product variant reaches the set quality goals, which in turn contributes to lower quality costs. Additionally, a lower number of product variants in the same production line means that handling becomes easier, including the risk of errors in assembling the product variant. It will also be easier to identify, prioritize and correct errors that may occur in the production line. This in turn leads to a reduction of quality costs. Time to Market was also affected when only one product variant was manufactured. Although Time to Market cannot be seen directly as a cost but rather as a loss of revenue, the study showed that it is faster to launch the product on the market if the number of product variants decreases. Finally, various investment costs were studied that could be linked to the production of several product variants, and the result showed that it is possible to reduce the investment costs if only one product variant is manufactured. Based on the outcome of the two case studies, a calculation model was designed for Axis Communications to help the company decide whether to manufacture product variants or not. The calculation model explains the costs that are affected the most by a change of number of product variants together with a description of how the costs are to be calculated. Using the calculation model will enable Axis Communications to make well-informed decision on whether or not to introduce more product variants in the product range.