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Scientific Glass Case Analysis

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The critical issue in the Scientific Glass (SG) case analysis is that the company has a high inventory balance due to a high safety stock level. In this case, Scientific Glass was trying to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction by increasing its inventory levels. However, maintaining a high level of stock is expensive and it can raise the company’s operational costs. As a midsize player in the glassware industry, SG offered more than 3000 standardized products (pg 2). According to the case, SG brought in line six warehouses in addition to the two warehouses it had originally (William Schmidt pg 4). SG also planned to improve its service level from 93% to 99%, which was significantly higher than the industry average service level …show more content…

In 2010, there was a 20% increase in the standard deviation of demand compared to 2009 to account for the 20% forecasted increase in sales. After finding out the standard deviation of demand in 2010, the Z value and the lead time were also given in the case. On SG’s proposed policy revision, the company’s target service level is 99%, which translated to a Z value of 2.33 (pg 7). Finally, the average lead time after warehouses placed an order with manufacturing facility is approximately 5 days (pg 6). Combining the standard deviation of demand, the Z value, and lead time, the safety stock level for 2010 was calculated (SS Costs). Having calculated the safety stock level at the 8 warehouses, the next step is to find the safety stock carrying cost. By including the 20% forecast increase in sales and the demand figures in 2009 (exhibit 2), the average price per unit for 2010 was calculated (SS Costs). Then, using the average price and the cogs/sales ratio in exhibit 1, the average cost per unit was calculated. Multiply the average cost per unit by the safety stock level, the total safety stock carrying cost for 2010 is approximately $15,611,066 (SS Costs). With over 15 million dollars tied up in the safety stock, SG’s goal to expand its operations was highly restrained. The recommended decision after a series of cost analysis of different warehouse options is to maintain only one centralized warehouse at Atlanta with Global Logistics. Have the

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