Improvements Suggested in Samsung Galaxy Phone Supply Chain

Samsung Galaxy Supply Chain Suggested Improvements[pic 1]

Problem:

Samsung has admitted to using tin sourced from a controversial mining operation on the Indonesian island of Bangka, where unregulated mining kills 150 miners a year and causes substantial environmental damage. The admission follows intense pressure from FoE(Friends of Environment) and 15,000 concerned consumers who had contacted Samsung, demanding the company investigate the human and environmental costs of its tin sourcing.  [pic 2]

Solution:

Samsung has a corporate social responsibility of ensuring they are not directly or indirectly involved in any activity that leads to the death of people or causes harm to the environment. The unregulated Tin mining in Bangka Island, Indonesia has been proven to cause deaths as well as do harm to the environment.

Samsung can shift its Tin mining operations to China, which is the 2nd largest producer of Tin after Indonesia with the help of changing its 2nd Tier supplier to the leading tin soldering company is China, Ningo Xihan Tin Solder Co. Ltd. This company sources its Tin from China itself instead of the controversial Bangka Island and making this move would strengthen the image of the brand Samsung in the eyes of the consumer.

Problem:

Samsung reported a dip in their quarterly profit after the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge Series despite the rise in demand of the product. This was due to Samsung’s inability to cope up with the demand and not being able to produce enough handsets to supply to its distributors. It is understood that the reason behind the shortage was the complexity of making a curved edge screen for the S6 Edge models.[pic 3]

Solution:

Samsung currently manufactures it’s displays in-house through a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung called Samsung Displays. To meet with the rise in demand, Samsung could outsource the production of the displays for Markets like US where large volumes are required. Samsung already outsources the manufacturing of the baseband chips for US market through Qualcomm to meet with the large volume required.