Postponement application in orange juice companies: case studies

Abstract

Postponement can be understood as a way to change the form, identity, or location of products at the latest possible point in time and can be applied in different levels in the supply chain. This study aimed to investigate the implementation of the postponement strategy in orange juice companies in order to identify the types of postponement adopted by these companies, the implementation process and the major changes after its adoption. Three exploratory case studies were carried out in orange juice processing companies, where interviews were conducted with general managers in the manufacturing and logistics sectors. Among the findings, types of postponement (time and form postponement) were verified. With the application of this strategy, changes in the productive process of orange juice were made with the movement of the decoupling point and the increase in the make-to-order production which had positive impacts on the businesses.