Supply Chain Design Case Study

Team Project Supply Chain Design Case Study

Describe the business competitive strategy and supply chain strategy for Jones Microwave divison

In-house / outsourced

Locations,

potential roles,

approximate capacity,

Microwave ovens sold by Jones are described as a commodity product. "Jones does not offer any anything particularly unusual in terms of features and functionality as compared to products offered by competitors"

The business competitive strategy for the supply chain selling commodity products should be primarily focused on the economy of the product. Creating a responsive supply chain for a commodity product will be a bad business decision.

The zone of strategic fit would be in the lower left corner of the chart. The Implied Uncertainty would be described by a very mature product, the Responsiveness Spectrum would be very efficient.

The Primary Goal would be to supply demand at the lowest cost.

The Product Design Strategy would be to maximize performance at a minimum product cost.

Pricing Strategy would be to operate at lower margins because price is a prime customer driver.

Manufacturing Strategy lower cost through high utilization.

Inventory Strategy minimize inventory to lower cost.

Lead Time Strategy reduce lead time but not at the expense of costs.

Supplier Strategy select based on cost and quality.

Characteristics,

Demand has become certain, supply is predictable, margins are lower due to increase in competitive pressure, price becomes a significant factor in customer choice.

Facilities are currently located across the country, the manufacturing plant is located in the CDC is in Ohio, with RDC located across the US, one in Canada, Spain and Germany. One economic strategy could be lower the number of RDC's, and/or even convert the Atlanta RDC into CDC, the reduction of CDC could offer some significant cost reductions. However other items sold by Jones could justify the need for responsiveness of the multiple RDC.

Inventory levels, microwave ovens have a pretty stable demand. The holidays have the greatest demand so the ability to forecast needed inventory levels should be easy to estimate with a small amount of error.

There is going to be trade when trying to decide the best distribution/ transportation network. , the lowest cost option would be to ship units from the mfg to the RDC, however since other items sold by Jones can be combined