Design for logistics: Development of a process model

Companies are confronted with increasing competitive pressure because customers demand cheaper products but at the same time want many high quality variants. Therefore, companies strive to increase their efficiency and effectivity. Companies realize that product development processes offer potential for improvement. The consideration of requirements coming from the logistics department present such an opportunity because parts are nowadays sourced from around the world and at the same time the number of parts required increases due to a higher number of variants. Researchers and practitioners state that considering the logistics processes during product development helps to increase efficiency. However, existing support for integrating a logistics perspective into product development is very abstract and does not support companies in mastering arising challenges. This paper addresses this need by taking stock of the existing approaches and collecting the requirements coming from industry. Based on those findings a process model is introduced, which supports the Design for Logistics. A case study at an automotive company was used to apply and evaluate the process model. The results show that the process model helps to integrate the logistics perspective into product development. The paper closes with further research suggestions and recommendations.