Supply Chain Analysis of Mattel

Landon Orchard 292 Windermere Court West, London, Ontario, Canada 519-661-7006 Landon Orchard is currently an undergraduate business management major at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio North Central Ohio APICS Chapter Full-time undergraduate student

Toys R Us is the world's largest children's specialty retailer. The company operates toy stores throughout the world and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In this paper I will give a brief company history, cite where the competitive environment is coming from, strategies that were attempted, and where they stand today.

Personally I worked for a video game company called FuncoLand which was purchased by a company called Babbages, which merged with Electronics Boutique. After the merger the name of the company was changed to GameStop which is now the largest video game retailer in the United States. The thing that makes this important to this paper is that when FuncoLand was purchased by Babbages the supply chain changed. The change in the supply chain meant that all orders must be relooked at to insure the same profit levels for products that GameStop enjoyed.

Mattel is the world’s #1 toy maker with more than 30,000 employees and more than $4 billion in sales. A well-established core product portfolio has set Mattel’s established position in the toy market much higher than their competitors. Its products include Barbie, Fisher-Price toys, Hot Wheels and Matchbox Cars, American Girl dolls books, and licensed Disney and Sesame Street products are just a few that have helped them reach such great profits throughout the world. Although Mattel leads the industry, it recognizes the complexity of staying on top in a highly competitive and shifting business. While keeping their sales outlets current, toy companies must constantly seek to achieve the next big hit. In

Supply chain is the process of getting a product from point A to point B. With how advanced technology has become, there are more ways than ever to transport the product. The goal of a supply chain managers is to get the product into their hands. The mangers negotiate with the suppliers to purchase the raw materials. Then, they ship those materials as efficiently as possible through trucks, ships, and trains. Then finally, they do everything they can to make the product gets to the store on time so the consumer can enjoy the product. Why is this so important? Well, without it, we as the consumer wouldn’t enjoy that fresh produce that Kroger provide or the convenient drive thru pharmacy. Everything we own is because of a company’s supply chain, and without these supply

Managed logistics, supply chain, and integrated logistics functions within a leading provider of services to the federal government. Supervised, trained, and evaluated team of over 20. Assisted Program Manager in quality assurance and operations leadership to meet all contractual requirements. Created comprehensive monthly data analysis, written reports and briefings, program plans/analyses, and others to support logistics and operational matters. Maintained supply and inventory control using Property Book Unit Supply Enhanced (PBUSE) system.

In 1916, the Boeing Company (Boeing), was founded in Seattle Washington. Boeing is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers in producing military and commercial aircraft carriers. Throughout Boeing’s history, the company has developed several strategic alliances with various aerospace companies. Further, the company has merged and acquired numerous international aerospace firms such as McDonnell Douglas, Rockwell International, Jappesen Aerospace, Hughes Space and Communications, and North American Aviation (Boeing, 2014). Boeing is currently conducting business operations in approximately seventy (70) countries and approximately 200,000 employees. Further, there are approximately 25,000 suppliers within the company’s supply chain. In addition, the company has a very intricate value chain as seen in Table 1 below.

Kroger has done a better job as of resent, but I would go into one of their grocery stores and find what I needed and then go into another one and not be able to find it. The layouts of each one would be different. Each retail chain should have the same layout so it is consistent no matter what store you go into. A c-store is a convenient store, many times you can walk in and it is not merchandised well. Maybe they have so much to put into a small space. “Take a look at what your customers see when they enter your store. Shoppers tend to stay to their right-hand side when they enter a store, and continue walking along the perimeter to do much of their buying” (Chiasson, 2008). It is important to put the sale items at the checkout and the new items to the right of the store.

Since Wal-Mart is a mass market retailer, its primary source of value that it adds to the company is derived from its supply chain. Wal-Mart has suppliers located all over the world and it purchases goods from a wide range of different types of vendors. Many of the company's primary vendors are directly connected to Wal-Mart's IT systems through what is referred to as an electronic data interchange (EDI). An EDI can instantaneous transmit data between Wal-Mart and their vendors. Such information can consist of order information, stock supplies, demand forecasting and many other key supply chain metrics. The advantages of such a system are clear as they can greatly assist creating efficiencies in the supply chain. However, not all suppliers have developed sufficient IT technologies to participate in an EDI program with Wal-Mart. Another option for greater coordination between parties in the supply chain is web-based supplier integration. Although the web-based systems are not quite as sophisticated as an EDI, they are more accessible for many of the smaller suppliers and they have shown to improve long-term coordination, cooperation, and commitment.

Currently Target Corp operates nearly 2,000 retail stores that are sourced through thousands of vendors, and merchandise finds its way to the stores via 22 regional distribution centers located throughout the United States. Regarding imports, Target's strategy is to route most of the imported merchandise through a small number of import distribution centers on the East & West coasts (mainly Long Beach, CA) and than transfer the goods by truck or rail to the regional distribution centers. In 2001, Target revamped its distribution systems by hiring outside consultants NTE to replace manual operations with electronic inventory and distribution systems. Before the conversion, employees working in supply-chain management relied heavily on manual faxes for much of the sourcing functions completed at the regional distribution centers, which in turn gave employees and managment limited visibility of shipments and order histories. Now a system that links trading parters in a centralized online system is utilized that allows the company to concentrate on orders and their shipments in the early stages of the supply chain. By doing so, the company can take advantage of multiple transportation options, re-route transporation when necessary, correct overruns, and schedule shipments in full trucks. he reduction in costs for supply-chain management have been substantial, allowing Target Corp to continue offering its

Toys R Us is one of UK’s leading toy and game retailer. This report conducts an academic research focus on Toys R Us (UK) in toys and games retailing sector. In the first part of this report, we will discuss the toys and games industry background and the overview of Toys R Us. Then, the research will focus on Poster’s Five Force Model and Porter’s Generic Strategies. In the next parts, this report will concentrated on the potential strategies which Toys R Us might pursue in the future. Conclusion and recommendation will be mention in the final part of this report and the recommendation will be covered the best strategy for Toys R Us which can be used for the future competitiveness.

As director of Supply Chain Systems, Teri Takai recommends implementing virtual integration strategies from companies like Dell to portions of Ford’s supply chain strategy. Although there are several key differences between the companies, the restructuring plans of Ford 2000 have set a viable foundation to implement Dell’s virtual integration strategy in inventory management, customer service and support and suppliers’ management. The redesign of the process must include design not only of the supply chain but also of fulfillment, forecasting, purchasing, and a variety of other functions that historically been considered independently within the Ford hierarchy. Teri

This report has been prepared to analyze the supply chain management process, design and planning of this particular Domino’s location. Theoretical parts have been used to evaluate the company’s supply chain process in terms of its product and service offering. This report also focuses on the daily operations of this franchise. The focus has been placed on the daily operations processes of the Dominos store located on lakeshore Blvd. (w), Toronto, ON. This report is a result of team research, case study analysis, a store visit, interviews and insights from Dominos existing employees, application of theoretical concepts, models and prior experience. This study shows how Dominos has been able to position itself as a market leader in its segment. Finding various aspects of the company’s processes, provides as an token of appreciation to the company’s efforts to continuously grow in the changing market conditions by taking new product design into consideration and being innovative against its competition.

4. In a service supply chain, the (explicit) cost of information is higher than in a product

The video game console industry is a very competitive segment. This segment requires a keen eye on product development as well as strategic product marketing and a rather large logistics arm to ensure rapid distribution to targeted areas. Video game industry in the US, which is hugely driven by retail sales of software and hardware, registered revenues of USD ~ million in CY'2012. Even so with the advent of new video game players in the industry, the revenues decreased by 11.7% compared to