Chabot Wallpaper Company Case

During the game, I realized that wide gaps in orders of every role in the supply chain such as factory, distributor and retailer create inventory management challenges. For example, distributor records 0units between week1-week 4 compared to retailer within the same period. The retailer records 3units, 5units, 2units and 2units between weeks 1- week 4. The same applies to factory with 0units from weeks 2-4. Addressing inventory management problems requires developing an average unit level to avoid disappointing customers when demand

Recommendation:1. Improve Just-in-time systemSpartan Plastic Limited need to improve Just-in-time system, it is control aims to maintain inventory level at zero, with an immediate objective of reducing the capital tied to the inventories. It is an important principle that able to eliminating waste throughout the production system. The waste can occur, through excess inventories and overly large lot sizes, both of which can cause unnecessarily long customer lead times. Let's explain the role of the core JIT practices in enhancing manufacturing performance. JIT manufacturing requires the establishment of JIT supplier relationships with suppliers; Spartan in this case, that is able and willing to deliver the needed quantities of parts as the needs arise and without any defects.

2. Compares the returns of the asset to the market over a period of time (Beta)

Case Analysis Success in the folding carton industry Pitts has been extremely aggressive in positioning Carded Graphics within the folding carton industry. This industry prints and cuts paper and glues it in a way that allows subsequent unfolding and filling by the customer. The industry is facing ever shorter lead times and must satisfy even more complex customer requests, particularly regarding printing capabilities. The large printers have secured the ultra-high-volume noncustomized business (printing boxes for commodity products), and Carded Graphics must be able to fill the customized small-run business. Pitts took a major step in purchasing a state-of-the-art printer. It is the main feature of Carded Graphics’ operations, putting the company ahead of

The value delivery option is another component that supports the supply chain. Providing attention to the changes within consumer demands that will aid in rapid production of consumer products. In order to gain a larger view of the said component it is vital that the value-based method must be clearly understood. Based on the findings of (Feller, A., Shunk 2006).the ability to realign the structure of the supply chain, this process will allows the supply chain to sustain its effectiveness by adopting to changes in consumer necessities with merchandises of larger value. A diversified supply chain is constructed to match the overall components of the chain with customers need in mind. But if this construction of the supply chain doesn’t match the needs it will make nearly impossible for the organization to provide said products and services to the consumer.

In the calculation of average inventory levels, a desired service level of 99% and a review period of 14 days with a lead time of 5 days were used to calculate the safety stocks and order-up-to-levels for each product under each circumstance. Then the amounts of overstock units were obtained by calculating the differences between OULs and average demands, and the overstock inventories were the overstock units multiplied by the unit cost. The annual average inventory levels were calculated to be $31,560.75 for the eight warehouses option, $14,120.28 for the two warehouses option and $9,403.24 for the one centralized warehouse option. As for the outsourcing option, the responsibility of inventory management would fall upon GL, so that there would be no inventories for SG.

Assuming that Kodak Gold Plus sells about 20% of its yearly sales during off-seasons, the resulting cannibalisation will amount to:

Using Supply-Chain Management to reduce space and investment requirements while maintaining adequate service levels is that when an effective supply-chain management, Wolf Motors can streamline the acquisition processes and maintain efficient inventory control while reducing unnecessary inventory warehousing. Wolf Motors could analyze the historical inventory turnover rates to diagnose the appropriate range of supplies that should be on hand in each and every category. Wolf

When offers of reduced pricing are accepted for equipment, meeting delivery expectations becomes an important part of enhancing the customer experience to maintain satisfied loyal customers. An inventory specialist in the current distribution center would be given the additional task of segregating and maintaining inventory levels to meet the needs of the customer loyalty department.

According to the case, the labor costs for mass customization is about 10% higher than labor costs for large batches or traditional manufacturing. In order for mass customization to work, Timbuk2 will need to determine how many color palettes, design patterns and the types of logos to offer their customers. Overall their challenge for mass customization is to determine whether or not their machines and workforce is capable of manufacturing the design the customer specified. Mass customization and variety can also lead to higher potential for errors. Errors in manufacturing can lead to higher labor cost; the time and money it would take to correct the order is a potential threat to their profitability.

A supply chain is a net work of firms. Thus, each firm in the chain should build its own supply chains to support the competitive priorities of its services or products. Two distinct designs used to competitive advantage are efficient supply chains and responsive supply chains. Efficient supply chains work best in environments where demand is highly predictable. The focus of the supply chain is on efficient flows of services and materials keeping inventories to a minimum. The firm’s competitive priorities are low-cost operations, consistent quality, and on-time delivery. Responsive supply chains designed to react quickly in order to hedge against uncertainties in demand. Work best when firms offer a great variety of services or products and demand predictability is low. Typical competitive priorities are development speed, fast delivery times, customization, variety, volume flexibility, and top quality. Tables below show the environments and design features that best suit each design.

Apple’s renowned for their brilliant abiltity to cope with changes in market demand. They strictly control every aspect of the supply chain to ensure that both the distribution and supply-and-demand relationship are near perfect. They use a Make-To-Stock method of Supply Chain Management that allows customers to walk into any Apple Store and make a purchase the same day, which is coupled with an extremely low inventory level that means the system has nearly Make-To-Order characteristics. Apple uses SAP (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing), a German Enterprise Resource Planning software, to power the global supply chain and implement a strategy to “purchase raw material and reserve manufacturing capacity ahead of time “ [1] in order to make this possible.

The customers, wholesalers and retailers may order in large quantities with the expectation that they will receive a greater allocation of products that are in short supply. The impact on the supply chain is significant as the forecasted demand is greatly, and unrealistically, increased with these inflated orders. Eventually orders disappear and cancellations pour in, making it impossible for the manufacturer to determine the real demand for its products

Barilla, the leading pasta manufacturer in Italy, faces increasing problems related to demand fluctuation. Their distributors also suffer from high inventory holding costs and low service levels on the other hand. This report explains, why the company and their distributors are troubled with this situation and how Barilla intends to solve it. The problem Barilla experiences is called the “Bullwhip Effect”, i.e. that demand variability increases when moving up the supply chain. Several factors enforce this Bullwhip Effect, e.g. high lead times, poor demand forecasting, and batch ordering. In this report we will point out, that exactly those aspects can be identified as the underlying reasons for Barilla’s problems. In a

Produce more products so there is less restocking issues but not more than the market calls for (supply and demand),