In the late 1990s Philips Dental Care business unit faced a difficult strategic decision: Find a way to radically cut product costs, expand product variety, and improve supply chain performance – or exit the powered toothbrush business. These cases explain Philips “Sunshine Project” to develop closely coordinated modular product designs and supply chain design and Philips achievement of greatly reduced product costs, expanded product variety, and supply chain performance. Case A examines the competitive landscape in the powered toothbrush business in the late 1990s. Case B explains Philips approach to creating coordinate modular product designs and supply chain design. Case C reports the remarkable results achieved by the Sunshine Project.
