Westminster Company

In today’s business world, production cost was an increasing concern for companies working to stay competitive in the global marketplace. The top management must search for a global solution to drive down costs and reduce difficult activities associate with inventory management and production management. Global sourcing aimed to exploit global efficiencies in the delivery of services and goods across geopolitical boundaries, including low cost skilled labor, low cost raw materials, tax benefits, and price breaks. Whelan Pharmaceutical was the best example to illustrate how the company chose the best manufacturing site for global sourcing from different perspectives.

With the same inventory levels, whether in a store or in a warehouse, the warehouse can drive the cost of this up, beyond that of in a store. Service charges are a cause of this inflated cost. The advantage the warehouse option has here, is there is plenty of space available to keep extra inventory versus what a store can hold, to guarantee a cushion of product in order to fill any customer demands. Also, centralizing stock allows easier monitoring of the stock levels for different products and due to service levels implemented in a warehouse, inventory checks can be easier in the warehouse.

Answer 2- If there should be a single location for all three companies the inventory holding cost will reduce because the product is placing at one location instead of different three locations. Moreover, by doing this the insurance and misplacing of product of cost reduce but in transit of inventory will increase because the shipments are truck load and the distance between customers and distribution centre is far. Furthermore, with this the service level improved which means order fulfilment process improved too. In addition to this, the

Reduced need for higher capacity at the supplier. This would be reduced because suppliers would not need to size their operations to deliver on the “one shot large volume order” and would be able to space these in time with orders at

Operating such dynamic distribution centers is usually very expensive and allows possibilities of product wastage. The high capital requirement to run such large distribution centers produces a natural barrier to entry and smaller firms frizzle out if they try and compete with the larger firms.

A reduction in shelf space and warehouse space could reduce TCC’s revenue and increase transportation and storage expense due to the amplified turnaround time on processing orders.

The timing of capacity changes also needs to be taken into consideration to achieve maximum efficenty given that demands of their products varies with seasonal changes. The ability to react to market demand changes quickly will determine manufacturers flexibility in keeping up with these demands. Manufacturers needs facilities to produce, whether warehouses to store its raw materials or finished goods, or manufacturing plants to produce their products. Services facilities are needed by certain manufacturing industries such as consumer electronics to cater for returns. Distribution centres also determine the efficenty of production distribution and un-nesessary inventory holding will result in higher holding cost. Such facilities require large investments and are integral of the manufacturer’s supply chain strategy and thus proper planning is needed when making these decisions regardong the size, location which affect the overall operations. How manufacturers run their productions also determine how successful will they be in terms of productivity and quality levels. Different types of equipment and processes also affect the cost and output of the manufacturing plant. Information systems that flow both upstream and downstream affects the forecasting, planning, inventory and production levels, they must be robust to ensure the manufacturing firm is able to react accordingly to changing demands and variations. In addition to their internal environment,

The advantages of a centralized warehouse is higher service levels and lower inventory holding costs due to aggregating customer demand and pooling risk. That is, if customer demand is high in one region and lower in another, there will be no need to hold excess inventory in a regional warehouse; the variation in demand will balance out and reduce the requirements for excess inventory. Additionally, the fixed costs of maintaining one central warehouse/distribution center will be lower than five regional warehouses.

Pro: Inventory at the store level will be decreased. Store manager can better understand on which items sell more based on their current customers and communities and focus on those items. Flexibility and able to modify orders from head office will give managers better inventory quantity control. The change in current supply chain is not as drastic and lower risk.

The successive study reveals that the senior management believes that the vast accounts affect the increment of commitment to enhanced supply chain efficiency. The administration has indicated significant customer improvements through maintenance and increase in the sales volume the company generates from the critical accounts. The company research suggests that formulation of a supply chain that involves collaboration with its large customers is now a competitive necessity. In many situations, strong retailers demand the latter and at times can dictate relationship arrangement. The company, therefore, has to ensure significant consideration to create unique supply chain, several powerful customers. It would be wise for Westminster to establish leadership positions within

The supply chain has evolved over the years. With new businesses that are on the rise in the competitive world it is important to stay on top. Different merchants create better deals that cause relationships between the suppliers and their customers to the end. I wanted to explore those relationships and research the history of the “supply chain”. I wanted to know how things were ran and how they are able to sustain business when the economy changes.

For leasing warehouses in the other five locations, including that in St. Louis, increasing the number of the facilities but not the size would have higher responsiveness. More facilities close to the end user can shorten the response time and the transportation cost can be lower. However, the facility cost will increase by building more new warehouses. The inventory cost will increase too, since the decentralized inventory will be greater than consolidate all the inventories in one big warehouse. Therefore, leasing more facilities beside in St. Louis will be more responsive but less efficient for the company.

Second, excess inventory will be reduced on items that have a lower demand. Third, there should be enhanced credibility with customers due to the better availability of product. Forecasting should also benefit scheduling and labor needs for production. Ultimately, there should be an increase in inventory for products with high demand, a decrease in overall inventory, and reduced operating expenses.

Expectation that top management in companies – both in private and public sector – places on supply is growing exponentially, mainly because of the permanent drive to lower cost and retain competitive advantages on the market, but also to create additional value. Research has shown that the perception of impact of supply chains on the results of businesses will grow in the future, taking a more prominent role in company structures over time.

These two organizations are retail giants of the United Kingdom and they spend heavily on their purchase and supply chain management to make their workings even more efficient. In this assignment focus will be centred on comparing, analysing, and contrasting main issues of supply chain and purchase network of these firms which include-