The impact of outsourcing on materials planning

Outsourcing is realized through production transfer during which there is much uncertainty and the main task for materials planning (MP) is to assure material supply. The purpose of this paper is to develop the understanding of how the outsourcing transfer situation (OTS) affect the MP process and the transfer performance as well as how these conditions together with the choice and application of the MP process impact transfer performance. A conceptual framework describing the OTS characteristics and their relation to transfer performance is developed and applied to a case study.