Intel's new Atom chip costs one fifth the cost from Intel's other chips and required a new supply chain design with substantially reduced costs. They achieved this by revaluating every assumption and focusing on ways to reduce inventory levels. 

For its traditional chips, Intel operated on a nine-week order cycle time with with many order changes from their customers which led to higher inventory levels and sub optimized factories.  Intel focused on shifting to a make-to-order model with firm orders accepted and then delivered in two weeks instead of nine.

One of the challenges that Intel faced with this paradigm shift was overcoming the instilled industry perceptions about the make-to-order model.  With the success of this initiative, Intel is now looking at implementing the new approach to the traditional chip's supply chain.

http://www.scdigest.com/ASSETS/ON_TARGET/09-11-04-3.PHP?CID=2911