Gap Analysis: Kuiper Leda Kuiper Leda Incorporated (KL) is a relatively small company that manufactures Electronic Control Units (ECU's) and Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID Tags) for the automobile industry. They focus on the quality of their product and delivery responsiveness and their clients include automobile manufacturers and Original Equipment Manufactures (OEM). Midland Motors, a well-known large company has signed a year-long contract with KL as a supplier for all their ECU's and RFID Tags. KL need to organize their structure to increase the daily capacity to handle Midland Motors order of 250,000 Electronic Component Units and 35,000 Radio Frequency Identification Device tags. KL also need to decide whether to outsource all or part of the component needed. Situation Analysis Issue and Opportunity Identification Kuiper Leda is a small electronics components manufacturer that specializes in Electronic Control Units (ECU) and sensors for the automotive industry. Kuiper Leda currently produces 250 RFIDs and 1,250 ECUs in one day of production. The company recently received an order from Midland Motors to supply 250,000 Electronic Control Units (ECU) along with 35,000 Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) tags. Midland Motors is a large company which maintains a close and long-lasting relationship with their vendors; it would be a devastating decision to turn their order down. The present order is above the existing capacity level of the KL plant to handle. The situation presents KL with the opportunity to develop a plan to strengthen their reputation in the industry by increasing their capacity levels. One of the fundamental responsibilities of operations management is to provide the capability to satisfy the future and current demand. Kuiper Leda lacks an effective Inventory Management to handle properly the increase in demand of stock and production. An inventory management plan would be capable of forecasting errors in production, client-required service levels, total lead time in manufacturing a unit or batch of the product, and demand priorities. Inventory control is a challenge currently because of the size of Midland Motor's order. In order to meet the demand the company needs to increase the inventory which increases the inventory costs. KL have an opportunity of using the Just - In - Time method of inventory control which eliminates waste by making the resources and labor available only in the time and amount required. It will help increase productivity, product quality and work performance while saving inventory costs for the company. (Curtin, 2008). Kuiper Leda also needs to keep in mind that they will still have to fill orders from other clients that have previously placed orders or even new customers.
Metalcraft’s scorecard was developed to address control issues in the supply-chain. The scorecard was a tool that provided Melalcraft a single reference point on supplier performance over a period of time along three dimensions: quality, timing and delivery. There were several business functions that utilized the scorecard; buyers, plant engineers, supplier development engineers, suppliers and various other users within the Metalcraft organization. The scorecard was also used to evaluate supplier performance at both the individual plant level as well as the aggregate supplier level. The scorecard classified supplier performance metrics with color recommendations indicating the degree in which Metalcraft would base future sourcing based on their “color” quality rating.
Ryder Systems, Inc., a leader in transportation, logistics, and supply chain solutions, is a Fortune 500 company based in Miami, FL. Since its founding 80 years ago, Ryder has continued to expand its presence throughout the world. Ryder now operates in North America, Europe and Asia. Today, Ryder’s main offerings include Fleet Management Solutions (FMS) and Supply Chain Solutions (SCS). Fleet Management Solutions provides customers with Full Service Lease, Managed Maintenance, Commercial Rentals and Used Vehicle Sales. Their Supply Chain Solutions business segment offers solutions by industry and by capability. Specialized industry offerings are designed for retail, consumer packaged goods, high-tech and electronics, and the automotive, industrial and aerospace industries. The SCS segment also offers customers integrated logistics, and warehousing, distribution, and transportation solutions. Specialized solutions for the oil and gas industry have been available from Ryder since 2013. Both the FMS and SCS segments offer customers a low cost alternative for their transportation and supply chain needs allowing the customer to focus on production.
Managed sales to Public Utilities in a total available market of 31 clients in West Tennessee/North Mississippi • Grew customer base from 10 to 25 accounts, boosting through sales in the 1st year 300% resulting in an increase from $659,000 to $2.8 Million • Created and implemented business plan for a specific product segment development to all clients increasing requests for quotes and sales and profits • Top Level Sales Achievers Winner in 2001 for meeting sales/profit margin goals EMR ASSOCIATES, Knoxville, TN 1993 - 1998 A $ 9.6 Million in sales Manufacturer’s Representative for electric power distribution and automation products to contractors, large accounts and OEMs and Wholesale Electrical Distributors, SALES ENGINEER – – Remote Office Managed sales of High and Low Voltage Electric Power Distribution and Motor Controls in a new Arkansas, Mississippi, West Tennessee territory where the company had little name recognition or distributor network • Called on electrical contractors, large industrial accounts and OEMs • Called on consulting engineers to assist in selecting the right product for the application and to write specifications • Recruited distributors, persuaded managers/salesmen to work with us as a value added supplier to increase their
The main problem that Excel is confronted with is should the company try to expand into supply chain planning. The main question on the table is does Excel have the ability to complete the entire task in a supply chain from planning to execution? As is, Excel is the largest provider of freight management and contract logistics, and has four teams to accomplish everything they provide. Their four teams include: business development, solutions design, implementation, and operations. With Excel’s great success and achievements in all their past contracts, the company would like to expand into supply chain planning with the help of Haus Mart since they have be in a long standing relationship and already know Haus Mart’s supply chain.
In the retail stores, managers are complaining of frequent stock outs even though the DC is full of merchandise, which is not moving enough through the supplier, DC, and retail stores. The inventory issue also ties in with transportation problems where accurate lead and delivery times are non-existent. The inventory turnover is not at its full potential because if the DC has merchandise yet the stores are stocked out, the inventory is frozen and will become obsolete.
KEDA was founded in 1992, mainly into manufacturing of Ceramics Machinery. The other major offerings by Keda involved stone processing, building materials processing and energy resource management. They had more than 2000 employees and a broad product offering by 2010. In this industry, managing infrastructure for inventory was of extreme importance because of the various, customizable offerings across multiple plants. It had become a world leader in building materials machinery by early 2000s. All the units including sales & marketing, logistics, production & inventory was acting separately. Thus for a sustainable business, it was highly important to move from decentralization to a centralized system. For this purpose
¬QUALIFICATION HIGHLIGHTS Sr. Operations leader with entrepreneurial mindset, extensive progressive management experience of over 20 years in leading multi-site domestic and Global manufacturing operations in Canada, US, Mexico, Asia & Eastern Europe. Successfully turned-around several operations over the year that faced quality, manufacturing, operational and commercial challenges with sites spread from Toronto Canada to USA, Ukraine, Hungary, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Mexico to Brazil and other locations. Skilled in all facets of operations from complex EMS, Contract Mfg. to privately held and VC owned units in any part of the globe.
...pital resources like distribution vehicles and storage warehouses should be outsourced to help reduce the high cost of operation which in turn can lead to reduction of its products price. The company should concentrate on product development and evolution and delegate distribution roles to outsourced firms. Such initiatives have worked well in the new Indian market and should be implemented in other areas.
Ferdows, K., Lewis, M., & Machuca, J. A.D., 2003. Zara. Supply Chain Forum: International Journal, 4(2), 62-66.
The just-in-time (JIT) inventory system was developed in Japan after World War II, in an effort to control costs during fiscally challenging economic times (Waguespack and Cantor, 1996). The challenge that faced many Japanese companies in the post-War era was to find a way to meet the needs of customers and businesses while utilizing as few resources and as little capital as possible. The Japanese developed these set of techniques in order to control production, limit unnecessary products and reinvest the valuable capital left from the savings back into the business structure (Waguespack and Cantor, 1996). Much of the success of many Japanese corporations over the past four or five decades has been was linked to the principles of JIT (Chhikara and Weiss, 1995).
In general terms, the organizational structure of the Electronic Products Division of Allentown follows the same structure of the other divisions. Under the General Manager there is a controller, a product development manager, a manufacturing manager (with three plants treated as three different profit centers), a sales manager and a marketing manager. The last two may be the major difference regarding the general structure of the company, since sales and marketing are usually combined in one single department. The breakdown in two departments has been made by the general manager, reasoning that the sales division should be concerned about short-term actions, while the marketing one should take care of pricing policies and strategic plan.
It is suggested for any organization to review, reassess any existing supply chain management or any delivery techniques, before developing a new supply chain method so that any exposure to high risk of failure is reduced. Somerset as a company taken advantage of outsourcing and transferred it product manufacturing to China leveraging low cost labor and raw material. The labor cost and other cheap material reduce Somerset overhead cost, but there is always the risk of not delivering product on time due to the foreign country political climate, change in tax and tariff and local
According to Srinidhi and Tayi (2004), companies that are flexible enough and are able to change from a JIT system to a traditional inventory system will have a competitive advantage over other firms who do not switch. In such uncontrollable environments, the major benefit of JIT becomes a handicap with the increase in delivery times and the added data handling and coordination required in such times. This leads to a decrease in quick response time, which ultimately leads to increase in costs to the firm.
NHP is a leading provider of industrial electrical engineering products which they take to the market in Australia and New Zealand. Their primary focus is on switchgear and automation products, but they have a huge range of items from climate control systems to solar panels. NHP cements their place as a leader in the industry by providing outstanding customer and technical support services which ensure customers return in the future. The role this case study is based on is the product information management for all of the electrical products that NHP stocks. This position relates strongly electrical engineering as prior knowledge of the different aspects of products assists with the work. However,
EC offer an effective communication between supply and manufacturing, and companies are able to respond efficiently and quickly to demand. (Turban, 2006)