Preparing for integrating supply chain with design and development operations process in a medium sized heavy machinery Original Equipment Manufacturer

This study outlines the work carried out as part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between Dando Drilling International Limited and the University of Brighton. Dando are a UK based Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of on-shore drilling rigs which operates as an Engineer-To-Order (ETO) and Make-To-Order (MTO) organisation. Compared to research into large organisations, only a limited amount of research has been published on supply chain integration and its prerequisite for ETO/MTO Medium Sized organisations which are Original Equipment Manufacturers. The aim of this paper is therefore to fill this gap using the KTP programme to investigate what steps can be taken to prepare companies such as Dando for an impactful supply chain integration. . In this paper the authors discuss and analyse the implementation of the “Business Process Renovation” method which can be employed to prepare and align the described type of organisation for a successful Supply Chain Integration (SCI). The paper highlights a number of key tools and techniques (developed in-house) that can be used with a major positive impact on Operations performance. These tools and techniques can also support the successful SCI and help to reduce the technology costs and rate of adoption challenges that are prominent in this type of organisation. The report concludes with the results achieved in terms of employee-hour saving, improvement in On-Time-Availability, improvement in overall product value by reducing the number of errors and the types and importance of open gates maintained in the renovated process to enable successful SCI.