The Principle of Postponement is a powerful concept in designing supply chains. It is a useful strategy in managing operations.

The Principle of Postponement is known to be a powerful concept in designing supply chains. Economic and other benefits were found to accrue from postponement. Although the principle was formalized in the context of supply chain design, postponement served as a useful strategy in managing operations even earlier. A number of examples of postponement together provide useful insights for future improvement initiatives. This aspect is highlighted in this article. The principle of postponement in supply chain design is briefly discussed with illustrations in the next section. The power of information technology to facilitate postponement is also highlighted. Subsequently examples of postponement that evolved prior to the emergence ofsupply chain philosophy are stated. In the next section, useful strategies culled from these examples are highlighted. The author argues that these strategies would hasten the process of formalizing principles that could drive future improvement initiatives.

The Principle of Postponement: Some Reflections, information technology, National Bicycle Industrial Company, NBIC, Additive Property of the Normal Distribution, Research and Development, information technology, Deskjet Printers, Additive Property of the Poisson Distribution.