ABSTRACT
Today, manufacturing companies are confronted with a host of challenges. Dictated by internationalization, free trade, and not least the improved availability of information through the comprehensive distribution of Internet connections, pressure on the markets is building. Whereas until a short time ago, sellers were the leading players on the markets, the reality today is an obvious restructuring toward buyers' markets, which puts increasing pressure on companies and forces them to respond. As a consequence, conventional pricing models in which selling prices were determined by adding up production costs and the desired profit margin, are increasingly losing their credibility. In a competitive environment, the market determines the price and the performance expectation associated with it. Prices are following a falling trend, while increasing individualization of the markets is concurrently providing an increasingly complex performance expectation. Companies are expected to meet production requirements such as small-batch and single-piece runs, shortest lead times, just-in-time (JIT), and just-in-sequence (JIS) deliveries and zero defects in ever shorter product life cycles.
