Dell Supply Chain Management Case Study

Operations management refers to the administration of business practices to create the highest level of efficiency possible within an organization. Operations management is concerned with converting materials and labor into goods and services as possible to maximize the profit of an organization and also to meet customer requirements.

Operations management is in regard to all operations within the organization responsible for creating goods and services that organizations pass to their customers. This function is at the heart of all organizations, giving the means of achieving their aims and reason for their existence. These activities include: managing purchases, inventory control, quality control, storage and logistics. A great deal of focus in operations is on efficiency and effectiveness of such a process.

Our Dell Global Fulfillment and Logistics (GF&L) organization aims to develop and sustain a global transportation and logistics network that uses the most efficient and effective means for us and our transportation providers to distribute our products to our customers. Our job is to get the right product, to the right place, at the right time. Furthermore, our Dell Logistics teams must do this at the right cost. We continue to optimize transportation costs while improving quality and striving to exceed the service expectations of our customers.

Logistics is the one important function in business today. No marketing, manufacturing or project execution can succeed without logistics support. 'Logistics ' is the management of the flow of resources, not only goods, between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics is one of the main functions within a company. The main targets of logistics can be divided into performance related and cost related. They are high due date reliability, short delivery times, low inventory level and high capacity utilization. But when decisions need to be made, there is always a trade off between these targets.

During last two decades, the importance of logistics has been noticed around the world. In global markets, the effects and further developments of logistics and supply chain management for corporate success has increased significantly that result in a large amount of companies have taken actual benefits in logistics, such as reducing costs, enhancing customers ' satisfaction and increasing sales. However, some people are confused with the relationship between logistics and supply chain management. Therefore, this essay will argue that logistics management and supply chain management are not exactly the same in operations because of the scope where utilized and some specific activities are similar, but some are different. In the end, this essay will also talk about the reasons for logistics management is an important strategy to manufacturing or service companies.

Supply-Chain Management is the activities that procure materials and services, and transform them into intermediate goods and final products and deliver them, through a distribution system (Heizer & Render, 2011, p. 452). DELL is a computer technology corporation that develops sells, repairs and supports, computers and computer related products. DELL has realized that supply chain is becoming more and more important for the success of today’s business world and they work accordingly to keep a competitive advantage in the market. This study will examine to what extent Dell has used supply chain management to gain and retain a competitive advantage in the computer market.

Operations management (OM) is that phase of an organization where inputs are put into operations to acquire required output (services) without compromising on quality. In other words operations management is also described as combining and transforming various resources in the operations sub-system into value added services in line with formulated policies of the organization. (Kumar and Suresh, 2009)

Westminster Company is one of the largest manufacturers of consumer health products, based in US. Their distinctive name and company logo are recognized throughout the world. Westminster was originally founded as a family-owned pharmaceutical supply business in 1923, the company has expanded, by virtue of aggressive new product development, into a global provider of health care consumer products. It consumes three wholly owned subsidiaries, manufacturing grocery product, drugs, and mass merchandise. Intense rivalry in the market, and distresses of having an effective supply chain, made the company evaluate its supply chain and logistics. The primary focus of its research was the key clients of the three companies. To understand logistics the company must first know what logistics is and how it works. Logistics is defined as a business planning framework for the management of material, service, information and capital flows (Logistics World , 2014). Logistics is an important function of the business and without a proper logistics system, all the manufacturing, marketing and other activities would fail, overall resulting with the company failing to reach its full potential. After thoroughly analyzing the case study of, Westminster Company, to improve their current logistic strategy, they would need to implement the following strategies: developing and analyzing a new system to focus on strategic effort to ship their products in a timelier, efficient and in a more accurate

Logistics Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material-handling, and packaging within an organization. With Wal-Mart this was stemmed from Mr. Walton’s idea of “discount retailing.” It was with this idea and the lack of transportation to

Operations management is the art of knowledge that ensures that services and goods are produced and distributed successfully to customers. Operations management key objective is maximize efficiency while producing and effectively fulfilling customer needs. In this novel the operations management team is struggling to make this plant a profitable plant so it will not be shut down. Alex is wondering why is that he cannot produce quality products and respond to customer needs at a faster pace considerably on time and better than competition cost. Any actions taken place towards the goal itself is considered productive and anything reverse of that situation is not considered productive at all. There are multiple operations management concepts that will be introduced here to lead to a successfully ran plant such as operation strategies itself, product design and process selection, quality management, just in time and lean systems, capacity planning and facility layout and inventory.

Dell’s computers, workstations, and servers are built-to-order and none are produced for inventory purposes which clearly cuts Dell’s cost on inventory. Dell customers could order through their website or even via phone, custom-made servers and workstations based on the needs of their applications. For desktop and laptop, customers are able to order whatever configuration of microprocessor speed, random access memory (RAM), hard-disk capacity, CD-ROM drive, fax/modem, monitor size, speakers, and other accessories they favored. The orders will then be directed to the nearest factory. Dell has proven to be successful in minimizing inventory and bringing new products in the market quickly enabling them

Logistics management is defined according to The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (August, 2013) as “Logistics management is that part of supply chain management that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services, and related information between the point of

The logistics concerns the purchase, the inventory management, the handling, the storage, the launch, the sequencing, the methods of administration of sales and lots of other...

Supply chain management plays a vital role in any organization to increase the customer satisfaction and also to maintain the competitive advantage in the market. In case of the Dell, it uses ‘Dell Direct’ model. In this model there is no

Operations management is the concept commonly considered and used in today’s competitive business organisations (Slack & Chambers, 2010). It includes complex management activities that are involved in organisations’ planning, controlling and other management functions. A few years back, organisations did not realise its significance in the business operations, but now, perception has been changed. Today, companies are more sensible and sensitive towards adopting effective operational management strategies. For instance, businesses are more dependent on the mailing services. Companies’ success is utterly dependent on effective communication. The more