Discuss How Supply Chain Management Is an Important Focus as Companies Strive to Be as Efficient as Possible

Question 1

Discuss how supply chain management is an important focus as companies strive to be as efficient as possible. Provide some examples.

        One may know that supply chain management is an important focus of all companies as quickly supply chains can enable retailers to get fashions to market quickly and if the company manage supply chain well it make the efficiency of logistics, that can deliver the right product at the right place at the right time. The leading retailers are using operations and supply chain management techniques to match supply and demand as closely and quickly as possible. (Jacobs, F. R., & Chase, R. B. (2010) p: 4).

 Let take Hewlett-Packard as example of good supply chain management. It has successfully used this methodology and is making efforts to implement the practice of good supply chain management at all its divisions. HP identified the need to improve its process for manufacturing and delivering products to customers as profit margins suffered pressure from increasing competition.

Other factors have contributed to a renewed focus, namely:

• More instances of multisite manufacturing, where several independent entities are involved in the production and delivery process;
• Increasingly cut-throat marketing channels, such as independent computer dealers;
• The maturation of the world economy, with heightening demand for “local” products;
• Competitive pressures to provide exceptional customer service, including quick, reliable delivery.

References

Effective supply chain management retrieved from:

http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/effective-supply-chain-management/

Jacobs, F. R., & Chase, R. B. (2010). Operations and supply chain management (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

Question 2

1. OSCM focuses on the conversion processes of the firm. How does OSCM add value to the customer? Provide some examples.

According to Jacobs, F. R., & Chase, R. B. (2010), “Operations and supply chain management (OSCM) is defined as the design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver the firm’s primary products and services.”

That is why it adds value to customers. It is concerned with the management of the entire system that produces a good or delivers a service. The process of OSCM is including planning, sourcing, making, delivering and returning. In order to work effectively, it needs to coordinate every department of the firm in a typical supply chain. Let take one example of a service firm such as a hospital, you can see that the suppliers are typically delivered on a daily basis from drug and health care supplier so it requires coordination between drug companies, local delivery services and local warehouse operations and hospital receiving as well. In some special cases like emergency room, it needs to be served on demand and immediately. It can add value to customers if you can deliver to them timely without extra cost.

References

Jacobs, F. R., & Chase, R. B. (2010). Operations and supply chain management (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

Question 3

1. Discuss the challenge in managing complexity and variability in support processes associated with service systems design.
   

The challenge in managing complexity and variability in support process associated with service system design is to answer the following questions how will this variability be addressed and what are the implications for operational cost and the customer service experience?

The correct answer is question of fit. The service experience fit, the operational fit and the financial impact.

According to Jacobs, F. R., & Chase, R. B. (2010), service experience fit means that the new service should fit into the current service experience for the customer.  Photos can be taken and will be seen online is applied of the Disneyland park is one example.

Financial impact is the more cost customer may have to pay for new service so it should be introducing a new service in order to keep from losing value customers.

References

Jacobs, F. R., & Chase, R. B. (2010). Operations and supply chain management (13th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

12.5 points   

Question 4

1. The United States economy cannot support itself solely on its service industry. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Defend your position.
   

You may know that each country has their own policies that support their own economic. In United State of America, they strongly support in agricultural sector to encourage the farmers in cultivating their farm and field.

Let see the figures from article of USDA about the budget for nutrition “USDA budget outlays increased 34 percent between fiscal 2005 and 2014, with the largest percentage increases in nutrition assistance programs and crop insurance. (Fiscal years begin October 1 and end September 30.) Nutrition-program increases since fiscal 2008 reflected increases in participation and temporary expansion of benefits. The improving economy and expiration of temporary benefits in November 2013 brought nutrition-program outlays down in fiscal 2014. Crop insurance outlays also fell in fiscal 2014, as extreme weather events subsided and crop prices moderated”

 However, no country can support to all sectors of their economy that is why we can understand why the statement that USA economy cannot support itself solely on its service industry. In the service industry, it needs to operate independently and not depend solely to the gorvenoment.

References

Nutrition assistance programs make up the largest share of USDA outlays retrieve from:

Question 5

Provide a complete explanation of the product design process.

Nowadays, customer needs products with more and more convenient, easy to use or with reasonable price and that is reason for the firms need to create and bring new products to the market. Product design is integral to the success of many companies. Product design differs significantly depending on the industry. In term of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) customers, the very important activities are to understanding consumer’s preferences and market testing prospective products. In the other hand, the pharmaceuticals, extensive clinical test are often required that involve carefully controlled experiments to test both the safety and the effectiveness of a potential product. In term of product design process, we should think of two things mentioned below, the first thing is contract manufacturer, that is the firm who make spare parts for the big companies in many sectors such as automobiles, electronics, clothing and the big company like Toyota can purchase from other contract manufacturers in order to finish their product or device. Using the contract manufactures much or less depends on each situation and they may play an important role for a company. The automobile company just produces the engine; other spare parts will be purchased from the contract manufacturers.