Speaker:    Jan-Hendrik Fischer

Abstract:    In a volatile business environment where uncertainties are influencing the supply chain, the ability to adapt to changes is essential. In particular uncertainties about customer demand, exchange rate fluctuations and changing labor costs are pressuring global manufacturers to flexibly adapt their production networks on a global scale to face these challenges. Legal regulation by countries and free trade agreements are governing the material flows and places of value creation. The optimal location of plants, selection of suppliers and installed production capacities are heavily influenced by trade barriers such as tariffs and requirements on local contents. Current planning approaches for the design of global production networks do not consider legal requirements of trade barriers in a sufficient way. This talk will focus on the integration of trade barriers in a strategic planning model for global production networks and their influence on the manufacturing footprint. The application of the developed planning model is shown in an exemplary case in the automotive industry under consideration of possible Brexit scenarios.

Short Bio:    Jan-Hendrik Fischer is a research assistant and PhD student at the Chair for Information Systems and Supply Chain Management. His research interest is the strategic planning of global production networks under uncertainty. Currently he focuses on how trade barriers and uncertainties influence the supply chain design and how these can be integrated into strategic supply chain design planning models.