A Supply Chain Problem Essay

A. Analyze whether a Keiretsu network, a virtual company, a vertical integration, or a different supply chain strategy should be adopted.

“Supply chain management is the flow of goods, services, and information from the initial sources of materials and services to the delivery of products and activities occur in the same organization or in other organizations”(Horngren695). This approach enables Regal Marine (R.M) to be highly effective, efficient, and profitable. More over supply chain management effectively manage your supply chain by synchronizing the demand for your products with your production capabilities, optimizing your resource usage, and maximizing your throughput so there are less disruptions and fewer fires to put out.

Research the responsiveness issue in supply chains (push, pull, and postponement strategies). Define each strategy and discuss the major differences between them. Name some companies that use each strategy. Do not just use the textbook for your answers.

1 RELLOCATION OF BUILDING IN DOWNTOWN TORONTO: The Company was facing operational capacity issues due to continuously

The corporation is seeking data to determine the optimal course of action for distribution, referred to hereafter as the supply chain. This analyst has researched several supply-chain strategies. These strategies will be presented in this report. The analyst will also provide a concerted

Finally, there are those costs that are common to both global and domestic sourcing. Direct labor and materials costs, lead-time costs, transportation costs and inventory costs are a part of both domestic and offshore sourcing. Transportation costs, inventory costs, and lead-time costs tend to be higher when sourcing globally. On the

Determine whether integration efforts should start with suppliers, distribution, or both. Explain the rationale for your decision.

Due to the many strategic acquisitions since 1987, NCSG has grown to become the largest Canadian owned crane and heavy haul service provider, spanning from Fort McMurray to New Orleans, with over 800 employees and 20 branches (NCSG, 2015). This aggressive growth strategy via acquisition has positioned NCSG to not only weather the current economic slump in Alberta, but grasp market share which will ultimately pay off when the price of

Since the warehouses hold finished goods and is considered to be an inventory, therefore it is crucial to minimise the capacity of the warehouses to achieve greater financial success. Appendix (2) shows that the average queue size of both warehouses is nearly 16 units whereas the maximum capacity of the warehouses is 50 units, thus the capacity of the warehouses are efficiently used. Average queue time of the available warehouses is another factor that must be taken in the prior considerations. An average of 34 hours is spent to deliver orders from warehouses to customers and this can be nearly 30% of the whole time spent in system. The rule of thumb declares that once the goods are manufactured, it must be delivered as

The larger a company’s supply chain, the more vulnerable the company becomes. When the company’s suppliers spread further and further away from the company, the company becomes even more vulnerable to political and currency risk, cyber attacks, missed inventory goals, and failed communication with the supply chain. For a company to overcome those potential vulnerabilities, a company must build safeguards into their operations. Those safeguards include a strong corporate backing in supply chain management, solid relationships with suppliers, more attention to forecasting, and a holistic approach to sustainability.

According to Reid and Sanders (2007) e-commerce are defined as the use of the internet and the Web to transact business. Over the years, EDI has become the most common method of using computer-to-computer links to exchange data between supply chain partners in a standardized format (Reid and Sanders, 2007). This integration of EDI in supply chain system has created many benefits for companies around the world. Some of these benefits have been outlined by Reid and Sanders (2007) which include but not limited to, qquick transfer of information, reduced paperwork & administration, and improved data accuracy & tracking capability (pg. 105).

A review of literature related to supply chain network design area specified in allocation and distribution problem under risks is presented in this section. There has been a growing interest in supply chain network design criteria which has draw great attention of a number of researchers to propose advanced models and develop efficient methods. Traditionally, procurement, manufacturing, distribution and planning processes are studied individually, however, with risk management in demand and supply side taken into further consideration, there has been an increasing attention placed on the integration of each process as a network design problem. To go through literature related to supply chain network design model under conditions of uncertainty, a search of references through library’s database is conducted by using criteria key words, which are “supply chain network”, “distribution-allocation”, “risk management ”, ”uncertainty”, ”stochastic demand” and ”supplier disruption”. Reference in appropriate mathematical programming methods and algorithms possibly used to solve problems in this criteria is also big part of this literature review. Large body of references shows that mixed-integer programming (MIP) models are commonly used in supply chain network design under conditions of uncertainty. At below, I review the literature mainly in separate but complementary parts.

We live in interesting times. Powerful forces are re-shaping the global business scene : financial and economic upheaval in the Far East, Latin America and Russia is creating a tidal-wave of change in the competitive environment. Organisations that once felt insulated from overseas low-priced competitors now find that they too must not only continue to constantly create new value for customers, but must do so at a lower price. To meet the challenge of simultaneously reducing cost and enhancing customer value, requires a radically different approach to the way the business responds to marketplace demand. One of the keys to success is the creation of an agile supply chain on a worldwide scale.

The primary forecasting techniques that Bronson Methodist Hospital uses varies with the ongoing processes of building, implementing, evaluating and the never-ending improvements that are made in each forecast models that are consistent throughout the organization. Bronson hospital focuses on using forecasting techniques that have data that is readily available, can be performed in house, easy to understand and the forecasting methods are reasonable (Harrelson and McClurkan 2007).

Supply chain management by nature depends on the relationships and networks. There are some relationships that play a significant role in attaining supply chain success. The word “relationship” covers a broad area in supply chain management. Strategic relationship, transactional relationship and internal relationships are just a few of the relationships types in supply chain management. Within the supply chain, there are working relationships between supplier and customers. These relationships are called partnerships. The use of strategic alliances and joint ventures are becoming more popular with a rising number of multinational companies. An alliance is considered an agreement between two or more companies from different countries in supply chain activity ranging from research and development to sales.