Purpose – Engineer-to-order (ETO) supply chains involve multiple companies for performing complex projects. The ability to effectively coordinate cross-business activities is essential to avoid delays, cost overruns and quality problems. Coordination is related to a number of contingent factors that need to be better comprehended. The purpose of this paper is to highlight such contingent factors and to analyse their effect on the occurrence of project delays. Design/methodology/approach – A multiple case study is used to investigate the moderating factors affecting coordination in projects carried out in an ETO supply chain. Such factors are examined through a cross-analysis of six shipbuilding projects based on data from interviews, project documentation and clips from the media press. Findings – In ETO supply chains, the engineering and production activities involve mutual interdependences that need to be coordinated. The findings suggest that both the integration of engineering and production and the production capability are the most critical factors influencing coordination in an ETO supply chain. Research limitations/implications – The study was carried out within shipbuilding projects as a setting to represent the ETO domain. To extend the findings, further research can examine other types of projects, such as: oil and gas, construction, military and aerospace. Practical implications – In practice, there is no “one-fits-all” solution for coordination. Each project represents a unique context which has specific objectives, actors and constraints. From that perspective, this study provides a basis to comprehend coordination in a complex setting. Originality/value – This study builds knowledge upon coordination by generating a number of propositions regarding the effectiveness of coordination on avoiding delays in complex projects carried out in ETO supply chains. Focusing on the engineering and production activities, the authors extend the existing theory by demonstrating that coordination can vary according to the level of several moderating factors.

An empirical study in the ship-building sector has been undertaken to understand the problems associated with the coordination of engineer-to-order (ETO) supply chains and to reveal insights into opportunities for improvements based on the application of soft systems methodology (SSM). A number of alternatives to improve coordination of supply chain have been proposed based on the comparison between a soft systems model and actual practice. These alternatives were summarized into seven general principles that help define the role of individual companies' in coordinating ETO supply chains, highlighting the company's structures and interdependencies that lead to project tardiness. Due to the specific nature of a project which changes according to the context, it is difficult to generalize the soft system model. Nevertheless, future research can further explore some of the principles proposed to deal with coordination problems experienced in other types of ETO project operations, such as construction and oil and gas.

Purpose – ETO supply chains produce high-value products on a project basis. The occurrence of delays is a major problem that impacts the performance of a company and its supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the cause of delays and to understand the role of coordination to mitigate them. Design/methodology/approach – An in-depth case study was conducted to identify problems that delay a project and to examine such problems from a systemic perspective. Based on data from interviews, group meetings, field observations and documentation, a pattern is proposed to explain the relation between coordination and lead time. Findings – Conceptually, to reduce the project lead time a higher level of concurrency is necessary. However, more concurrency increases the interdependencies between activities, something which demands more coordination effort. Since the coordination mechanisms applied are not appropriate to cope with the increasing coordination effort, a number of problems appear causing reworks and delays which increase the lead time. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation is that the authors are not able to distinguish which particular project characteristic influences the adoption of a specific coordination mechanism. Further research is required to examine the effect of various coordination mechanisms across a higher number of projects. Practical implications – Practitioners can benefit from discussions in this study to comprehend how coordination can improve the delivery performance in ETO supply chains. Originality/value – This study contributes to a better understanding of coordination in ETO supply chains by making sense of problems that delay the project. Matching the coordination mechanisms with the required coordination effort, which is based on the project characteristics, is a way to avoid delays and reduce the lead time.

Currently, one of the main challenges for most of the shipbuilding companies is to manage the activities performed by a network of suppliers worldwide. Empirical evidence shows that the lack of integration and coordination between partners of the same supply chain affects the quality and the delivery date. Supply chain management (SCM) has been proposed to manage the flow of material, information, and service through the supply chain. However, the literature has dedicated significant emphasis to the high-volume sector, while other sectors have been largely ignored. Different approaches for SCM should be considered according to the characteristics of each industry. Therefore, this paper was proposed to provide an understanding of the role of SCM in the shipbuilding industry. A review of the literature identifies the main concepts, principles, and methods of SCM, and a case study provides a discussion of the barriers to implementing them. The results showed that SCM in shipbuilding depends essentially on improving the relationship with suppliers and adopting appropriate information and communication technology (ICT).

Resumo: Usualmente os planos de processos são gerados sem considerar a utilização de máquinas alternativas, isto é, no planejamento de processo convencional uma única máquina é selecionada para a execução de uma determinada operação. Com isso, as máquinas preferidas pelos processistas são selecionadas para executar a maioria das tarefas, ocasionando a formação de gargalos na produção. Nesse contexto, a inclusão de máquinas alternativas em planos de processo pode ser usada como uma estratégia para resolver o problema de formação de gargalos, pois a eventual indisponibilidade de uma máquina permite que outra máquina pré-planejada seja selecionada e utilizada imediatamente. Para avaliar essa proposta, foi desenvolvido um modelo para simulação de um sistema de manufatura sujeito aos dois tipos de planos de processo, isto é, com ou sem máquinas alternativas. Verificou-se que a inclusão de máquinas alternativas em planos de processo resulta na melhoria no desempenho do sistema de manufatura em relação à produtividade, ao estoque em processo e à utilização de máquinas, ainda que a máquina alternativa selecionada tenha uma menor eficiência.Palavras-chave: Planos de processo com alternativas. Gestão da produção. Simulação. Gargalos na produção.Abstract: Usually the process plans are generated without considering the use of alternative machines, i.e., in conventional process planning a single machine is selected for the execution of a particular operation. Consequently, the machines that are preferred by process planners are selected to perform most tasks, leading to the formation of bottlenecks in production. In this context, the inclusion of alternative machines in process plans can be used as a strategy to solve the bottleneck formation problem, since the possible unavailability of a machine allows another preplanned machine to be selected and used immediately. In order to evaluate this proposal, a model was developed to simulate a manufacturing system subject to both types of process plans, i.e., with or without alternative machines. It was found that the inclusion of alternative machines for plans process results in improved performance of the manufacturing system with regard to productivity, work-in-process, and machine utilization, even if the selected alternate machine has lower efficiency.