Supplier Hub at Apple

Executive Summary

The case " Apple Computer's Supplier Hubs: A Tale of Three Cities" deals with the imple-mentation of supplier hubs as an instrument to improve the flow of materials along a sup-ply chain based on the experience at Cork, Ireland and Fountain, Colorado.

Since the demand of Apple's desktop PC and server PC products has rapidly increased there is a need to built new production lines, but at the same time a need to store more material at the manufacturing site. To solve this problem the supplier hub seems the most attractive option to us because Apple not only solves the space problem but also manages to have declining material and capital cost, while increasing flexibility and raw material quality. In a supplier hub there only three entities involved, which make the work as efficient as possible. The implementation of an information system like FLEX by the logistics provider Fritz simplifies