Internal supply chain planning determinants in small and medium‐sized manufacturers

In the manufacturing industry, there are a large number of small and medium‐sized manufacturers (M‐SMEs) which provide specialty manufacturing and support services to large corporations. M‐SMEs form the biggest group of manufacturing entities in many newly industrialized economies. The needs and operating requirements of these M‐SMEs are very different from those of large companies. Much research has been carried out in the area of mechanisms, techniques, heuristic designs, modeling, and usage of fuzzy logic in production planning, scheduling and production control. However, most research only addresses a particular area of the enterprise planning process. In addition, the majority of the large‐scale enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems created for large corporations’ manufacturers are sometimes ineffective in M‐SMEs. This research highlights the organizational, structural, operational and supply chain related interdependencies impacting the planning and management of the internal supply chain in M‐SMEs in the Southeast Asia region. Similar to the deployment of management and manufacturing information systems, the need to fully comprehend the operational dynamics of M‐SMEs is crucial for the successful implementation of ERP systems to manage the internal supply chain. The deployment of ERP systems in M‐SMEs is simpler in some aspects compared to large corporations, but can be more complicated in others.