Cumberland Metal Industries Essay

In the case “Metalcraft Supplier Scorecard”, the author uses an example of a decision-making problem regarding to which supplier should Metalcraft choose to lead to the topic of the Metalcraft supplier scorecard. Metalcraft, as a component designer and manufacturer, supplies a few largest automobile manufacturers with vehicle parts all over the world. As one of the tier 1 suppliers, Metalcraft offers and ships finished parts and components using in the automobile production process to automakers.

There are many competitive forces that are affecting Nucor Corporation. Some of the primary ones are the market size, number of rivals, and pace of technological change.

MTC initially needed to obtain substantial investment capital due to two main factors: a research-heavy industry, and the need to create most of the markets for its products. Although the founders' goal was to become a major manufacturing company, they did estimate that the company would need $50 million in capital before it would become self-sufficient. Their initial financing model was to first recruit a superior technical team, use that to attract additional equity investment and development funding from interested corporations, and then develop manufacturing capabilities. Commercial sales began 2.5 years after inception, and MTC is nearing the break-even point in 1990.

The second accident at the "Timken Steel Faircrest plant" company which a is an employee fall down more than 40 feet which led to several broken bones because of just a small mistake. The problem is when he made a maintenance on a crane he wasn't ware Certified safety harness which it could safe his live from the risk. I used to do a maintenance on more than one cran and my company doesn't allow me to go without waring a Certified safety harness because they have to keep all the employees a way from all the risk and even if they didn't told me to ware it, I will not go up to the cran without it, do the fact that no one knows what will happen and even if I am good at this job, I have to work safely. I agree that this company should teach all

Potential channels included: Heavy supply houses and heavy equipment distributors - provided access to a wide market but also absorbed additional profit margins. More importantly, they were unlikely to hold the enthusiasm needed to actively promote CMI’s pads and educate the market. Manufacturer’s reps – were commission-based transaction-driven salespeople. Reps held strong industry connections and offered access to a wide market without increasing labor costs. On the other hand they held low brand loyalty and could be discouraged by complex time consuming transactions requiring market education. CMI was also considering In-house direct sales force – they would have offered strong brand loyalty, product knowledge and professionalism but also take longer to gain market coverage and demand large expenditure on labor and training. CMI eventually decided to sign manufacturing reps who sold their pads to various distributors and supply houses.

Midwest Copper Mining’s (MCM) biggest problem they are facing is that of sustaining supportable profit growth, as the undercurrents of the copper mining industry are changing. In particular, they need to figure out how they are going to increase their capacity to meet demands globally. They also need to figure out how to do this without disrupting the current culture of the business. They have been very successful and have created process and procedures that have kept them sustainable over the years. With the changing of the copper industry, MCM needs to re-evaluate their business strategy, make changes as necessary, in order to continue to be a successful company that is both a cost-leader and a differentiator.

In the beginning CMI fabricated custom components for chemical process filtration and other highly technical applications. The boost came when Slip-Seal was developed and gained 80% of market share. Sales increase from $750k in 1991 to

Blue Ridge’s competitive strategy appears to be cost leadership, focusing on a narrow product type and offering for sale only in the southeastern states. Blue Ridge’s limited offering of products, only a sports towel for limited use and distribution, give it an edge in determination as there are only so many materials, designs, and processes required for this one type of product. Though Blue Ridge does focus on just the sports towel, there are still some aspect of differentiation which causes the firm’s competitive strategy to also deviate a bit towards product differentiation. Blue Ridge offers variations of its sports towels aside from its three customary sizes (regular, hand, and midrange),

CMI was first manufacturer for CM pads, there was no direct competition and no available selling price in the market that CMI can take reference to. In view of that, CMI could use two test results of Kendrick and Corey to determine the economic value of CM pads. According to the Appendix I, the average economic value of CMI pad was 3,304. This value had taken into account of less CM pads required per job and the cost saving in equipment and labor . But the value to the customer should be higher due to some intangible advantage, for examples, lower accident claim as fewer set changes required for CM pads. Besides, lower health claim as CM pad contained non-toxic material. In order to gain the market share for this new product, we would recommend CMI to set the price of CMI pad around 85% of economic value, saying 2,805, promote to the market that it was much cheaper to use CM pads with superior performance and cost efficiency. Besides, different discounts can be granted to the customers depend on the length of the contracts signed and volume of the pads purchased, ranging from 10% to 25%.

The company that performed the first test was ecstatic with the results and has been pressuring CMI to sell them more Cumber-Coils. Since this is a brand new product unlike anything

reducing the price and Destin Brass has not been able follow. We address this issue

Cumberland Metal Industries (CMI) should price their new cushioning pads at $900 to maximize profit. CMI should begin by targeting the customers that will find the greatest value in the product an pay the most. This allow the company to maximize unit contribution, and leave available options for dealing with future competition and sales challenges.

We encourage CMI to identify the top contractors and dispatch sales representatives to educate these companies on the benefits of the new CMI metal cushion pad in comparison to what is currently being offered in the market (asbestos pads). The sales representatives can use the results from the Colerick and Fazio tests to demonstrate the advantages of switching to CMI metal pads. Allowing them to test the product before paying will only improve brand reputation and overcome price objections. We know they are very interested in making money, thus we can assume they are interested in saving as much time and money as possible throughout each pile driving job. Contractors bid on job contracts by estimating the amount of time it would take to drive the specified piles the distance required, and by utilizing the new CMI metal pads and simultaneously minimizing the associated time per job, these contractors can win more jobs and produce more efficient work overall. Once independent pile-driving companies such as Colerick and Fazio try the product and see the unique value and advantages that CMI pads offer, they can promote the product through word of mouth and by exemplary job execution which will in turn help aid in making CMI pads the new industry standard and most well-known pile-driving pad brand.

As CMI’s pads are a new product and that the pile-driving industry has paid little attention to cushion pads prior to CMI’s involvement, there is no other manufacturer that dominates the industry and therefore there is major room for growth. The product seems to be capable of generating a recurring revenue stream. There do not seem to be any barriers. Once CMI becomes the first and therefore, preferred provider of these pads, there is little reason for a customer to switch to a

Duo Pads. It is said to be able to get rid of spots because it 'clears