Title: Implementing Supply Routing Optimization in a Make-To-Order Manufacturing Network

Abstract:  Dell’s supply chain for desktops involves Asian vendors shipping components by sea to several 
U.S. plants. While suppliers are responsible for shipping enough inventory, Dell can re-route and expedite 
their shipments while in transit and also transfer on-hand inventory in order to balance supply across 
sites. This paper describes the development, implementation and impact of the process and optimization-based 
control system now used by Dell to address this supply routing challenge for its US-bound monitors. This 
new methodology is estimated to have reduced Dell’s inventory re-positioning costs for monitors by about 60%.

 
Joint paper with: John Foreman, MIT Operations Research Center; Julie Alspaugh and Fernando Lopez, Dell 
Computers, Inc., Round Rock, TX; Rohit Bhatnagar and Chee Chong Teo, Nanyang Technological University, 
Singapore; Charles Dubois, Ecole des Mines de Paris, France