CASE OF THE REWIRED SUPPLY CHAIN
Order Description
Attached is the case study entitled “The Case of the Rewired Supply Chain.” Please read this case carefully, and provide your recommendation for each one of the three (3) items listed below the case. This case study will be issued at the beginning of Week 1, and your recommendations are due at the beginning of the sixth week. Please submit your responses only in MS Word.
The student will use the template entitled Case of the Rewired Supply Chain, and should follow each part. Failure to submit the requisite recommendations on the date due and on the template provided for response to this case study will result in the student receiving one grade decrement from what the case study merited if receive on or before the due date.
Please note the following:Policy Statement # 1. Late Submittal of Deliverables/Assignments All students should recognize that it is unfair to their fellow students to submit assignments after the scheduled due date. Therefore, all assignments are expected to be completed by due dates set in this class. An exception to the rule is a 24 hour extension provided only for thread postings (i.e., responses to weekly discussion topics), but late postings will be assessed a 50% decrement for that week’s posting. Late submittal of deliverables (i.e., assignments) in the Assignment area of this class will be allowed without any grade decrement (i.e., from A to A-; B+ to B, etc.) only for the following valid list of emergency reasons. Please note even these reasons are only acceptable at the discretion of the Instructor.
Except for a personal medical emergency without any prior indication, the student is expected to work ahead and complete all weekly deliverables (discussions and assignments) to anticipate or accommodate possible/potential crisis. A personal Medical Emergency or Serious Acute Illness. All medical emergencies and illnesses must be verified by a note on letterhead by an M.D., D.O., P.A., or R.N. The Instructor usually will not accept a note from other health professionals (e.g., Ph.D., MSW, D.C., Physical Therapist) because their professional functions rarely involve medical emergencies or acute illnesses. A personal Accident or Police Emergency. The Instructor will require an accident report or note on letterhead from an appropriate law enforcement officer to accept late work due to accidents or police emergencies (e.g., assault on student, student taken hostage, detained witness of a crime). A personal Unforeseen Jury or Witness Duty. The Instructor will require a note on letterhead from a judge or attorney stating you had no advance notice of duty to accept late work due to jury or witness duty. A personal Unforeseen Military Deployment or Activation. The Instructor will require a note on official letterhead from your commanding officer stating you had no advance notice of deployment or activation. Funerals for Immediate Family Member (e.g., parents, siblings, children, grandparents). The Instructor will require a copy of the obituary or a note from a minister or funeral director.
CASE QUESTIONS: For this initial meeting with the Directors, you are to prepare a short summary of your recommendations, including the following:
A synopsis of the inventory and supply chain management problem(s) as you perceive them to be.
Using the facts of the case, as well as theories and best practices that you have learned in the PROC 5820, Operations Management course, prepare a short description as to what you intend to do to address each of the 5 goals in the attached case.
Explain how you would identify and use measures of effectiveness (identify appropriate metrics) to assess progress in resolving these issues.
When submitting your recommendations (on the three items listed above), please use the attached template for your response to this case study. You may use two (2) “typewritten” pages, double-spaced for each recommendation. If you require more than two pages, each recommendation should not exceed three (3) pages in total. You can use other material (e.g., Internet sites, textbooks, or outside readings) that will support your recommendations. Please submit your responses in MS Word.
Resources:
Template for Response to Case Study.docPreview the documentView in a new window
CASE OF THE REWIRED SUPPLY CHAIN.docPreview the documentView in a new window
CASE TOOL FOR ASSESSMENT OF PROGRAM OUTCOMES 2 and 3
The Case of the Rewired Supply Chain
ORUN is a 4th generation family owned company with a corporate headquarters and 4 plants located in three states, each of which manufactures nearly identical product lines. They are considered a leader in the development, design, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of metal cabling and related products used in the telecommunications and automobile industry. The company owners, including Mr. Charles O’Run, the CEO, realized that some core issues had to be addressed and solved if the business stood to gain a competitive advantage in the market which, in their case, included many foreign and multi-national competitors, but also potential customers. They need to solve both strategic and operational issues many of which focus around the need for better, more rapid and dependable information concerning their materials management and production planning.
Summary of the manufacturing process:
Any wire diameters required by the customer can be drawn from appropriately sized wire rod blanks, the initial basic material purchased from specialty metal suppliers. The process can be set up to accommodate a variety of sizes of the finished product, which is comprised of the metal “conductor” and the insulation material. The conductor is made by twisting a bundle of wires from the drawing machine in the bunching section. This hardened conductor is made by heat treatment, and then the outer jacket for the heat-treated conductor is made to insulate it. After insulation is placed over the wire, custom marking of company logo (if designated in the order), size or any specifications desired by the client are printed on the surface of the jacketed conductor in the marking section. A quality inspection is performed to verify the outer diameter, conductivity, and spark test. After inspection, the final product is rolled as a spool or coil in the wind-up section and a final inspection of the packaged product is conducted.
Over the course of time, the ORUN remote operations have become very independent in their local procedures. There is a significant communication gap between the corporate headquarters and the 4 plants. In fact, so much information is moving between plants by facsimile and email that daily operations are quite dependent on the speed and availability of these processes. The plant’s operating results are not getting to local and headquarters management on time. The headquarters staff reporting is confusing, and the metrics used by operating units are developed at each remote site and not distributed throughout the company. Different procedures exist for the manufacturing, supply chain management, marketing, and financial reporting throughout the various plants. There is no agreement within the company whether certain products or long-term contracts are profitable, and the value contribution of individual vendors to their overall process is unknown for certain. Additionally, there are no procedures in place to ensure unified supplier management throughout the company, leaving this instead to the individual plant purchasing managers.
The primary goal that the owners identified is to control the rapidly fluctuating material purchase costs and to reduce a significant increase in raw material and finished goods inventories. A corollary goal is the need to ensure that the entire enterprise is organized in a manner befitting a world class manufacturing operation. In the past, when attempts to improve far less complex organizational problems were made, there was considerable resistance to change, both by the workers and by mid-level management at the various plants.
Mr. O’Run has hired you, a proven executive, as his new Chief Operating Officer, specifically charged to solve these problems and achieve the goals as set forth below. As your first assignment, Mr. O’Run has requested that you meet with ORUN’s Board of Directors and briefly summarize the problem as you see it and recommend a broad course of action to begin planning how to address the following goals:
1. Allow ORUN to minimize costly inventory
2. Improve the overall supply chain management within the company
3. Ensure demand requirements are met, avoiding stock outs and reducing overall costs
4. Standardize business practices among plants with a given supplier
5. Increase supplier efficiency with real time information on firm/planned orders and forecasts.
CASE QUESTIONS:
For this initial meeting with the Directors, you are to prepare a short summary of your recommendations, including the following:
1. A synopsis of the inventory and supply chain management problem(s) as you perceive them to be.
2. Using the facts of the case, as well as theories and best practices that you have learned in the PROC 5820, Operations Management course, prepare a short description as to what you intend to do to address each of the 5 goals above.
3. Explain how you would identify and use measures of effectiveness (identify appropriate metrics) to assess progress in resolving these issues.
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