The name KOPtimera stems from a combination of “KOP”, which is the Swedish acronym for Customer Order Decoupling Point, and “optimera”, which is Swedish for optimize. The name is hence conveying the message that this project was not only about customer-driven enterprises (represented by “KOP”) but also about how to customize in the best possible way (represented by “optimera”) in terms of e.g. the cost for lead time.

The Purpose of the research project

From a scientific perspective, the KOPtimera project was based on the state-of-the-art research in three key areas related to process management in customer-driven enterprises:

  • 1. Process management based on supply integration of manufacturing and purchasing
  • 2. Process management of supply in combination with product development
  • 3. Process management performance from a management accounting perspective

The purpose of KOPtimera was to analyze competitive positioning of strategic decoupling points, not only based on strategic lead-times, but also explicitly related to the cost of lead time. To further delineate the purpose of the project, a set of research objectives (ROs) was stated. The ROs highlight the different aspects of customer-driven process management that were targeted and in particular they emphasize how different functions within the company are included.

  • RO1: To extend the reach of the CDP-method to embrace manufactured materials to the same degree as purchased materials.
  • RO2: To include product development in the positioning of strategic decoupling points.
  • RO3: To develop the decision support of customer-driven process management by including management accounting based measures for the evaluation and prioritization of strategic decoupling points.

The expected end result of this project was a method for analyzing customer-driven enterprises (CDE-method).

Time period

The work of setting the direction of the KOPtimera project was initiated in the spring of 2012 and finalized at the end of May 2013. The project itself ran between January 2014 and December 2016 and was conducted in collaboration with the Swedish KK foundation. The project ended with an open conference for participants outside the project where the results from the project were presented.

logotype Koptimera