Caso SKID

1. Suppose there are 100 potential suppliers. How many suppliers do you think should ideally be integrated in the early skid-steer development process? Why that many or that few?

The case for early integration of suppliers in the new product development process is compelling, but it is important to recognize that supplier integration is a process that must be managed properly in order to achieve maximum impact. Primary candidates for supplier integration should be based in terms of their impact on product performance, their technical complexity, their impact on product development time, and their impact on product cost. It not necessary that if 100 suppliers are required to be integrated, all the suppliers will be ready to become the part of the early development process. If company is thinking for long term integration then the supplier's future capabilities may be as important as their current capabilities. Supplier involvement in a product development effort can sometimes be uncomfortable and therefore without commitment in both organizations, the communication and sharing of information and resources necessary to make the relationship work will probably not occur. The number of potential supplier’s involvement in this situation will depend on all these factors and hence cannot be assigned a number. It can be 100 or it can be 0

2. Are there tradeoffs in terms of the number of suppliers to integrate? If so, what are the tradeoffs

Yes, there are tradeoffs in terms of the number of suppliers to be integrated. Depending on the type of different skid-steers will be developed the suppliers has be be integrated in initial stage.

1) Purchasing – The suppliers need to be identified from whom the company will buy products to reduce cost.

2) Cost or Price – From above price is the second tradeoff which is important in identifying the number of suppliers that need to be integrated.

3) Delivery – If products are made on time but are not delivered as per the customer expectation then it can have a huge impact on the overall production. Therefore, selecting the right supplier for delivery service is very critical.

This trade-off is of great importance since the consequences of a poor service level could be very dangerous. This is the reason why customer and supplier within the chain should mutually agree in order to maintain a high service level, not to lose end customers. Every supply chain has to define its competitive priorities and evaluate the best positioning in terms of logistic cost and service level

3. Are there tradeoffs among the identified criteria? Can you tell? What do you need to know to better answer this question?

The trade-off among the identified criteria could be the following:-

1) Lot- size-inventory trade-off

Large lot sizes yield benefits in terms of quantity discounts and lower annual setup costs, but it increases the inventory carrying cost carried by the supplier.

2) Inventory- transportation costs

Suppliers prefer to ship full truckloads instead of partial loads to spread shipping costs.

3) Lead time –transportation costs

Suppliers like to ship in full loads, but waiting for the sufficient order needs to be discussed.

4) Product variety-inventory

Greater product variety usually means smaller lot sizes and higher setup cost and transportation and inventory management cost that needs to be decided in initial stage.

5) Cost – Customer Service

Producing and shipping in large lots reduce costs. Therefore, proper is required to make sure that the cost reduction does not delay the delivery of the product to the customers.

4. Would you mandate weekly meetings as an inter-organizational policy to structure the interactions? If not, how can you facilitate communication?

Meetings are held to enable the flow of information among different units of an organization. In supply chain management facilitating communication is not just meeting the employees but also providing information on time with accurate data. I personally feel that mandatory weekly meetings are not necessary as long as the flow of information is smooth. If I had to facilitate communication I would prefer the use of internet because that is the fastest way of communicating among suppliers and retailers. If meeting is required it has to be scheduled in advance but what if information is required immediately or needs to be shared among different production units, in that situation the meeting won’t be effective. The demand of e-commerce is increasing because of the demand and completion in lowering the overall production cost. Therefore, investing in IT to develop a proper channel of communicating is beneficial in supply chain management in any phase.

5. What role can IT play or should play in structuring these interactions? What concerns do you have with the suggested IT role?

IT plays a vital role when it comes to data sharing and flow of communication from one department to the other. Even in small organizations the use of different software integrated among the client and their partners I quite common these days. Holding meetings through conference calls, video conferencing or group chats can allow the information flow faster and more efficiently. The concerns that can arise with the IT role in such interactions can be data integrity, software security issues, IT issues and knowledge on using IT integrated software. Most companies prefer developing their own software tools therefor, IT support needs to be available 24/7 to avoid any delay or interruption in the flow of information.

6. Suppose the criteria you developed suggest that you integrate supplier X into the product development process for the skid-steer loader, what reasons might lead you to choose to not do so or to reduce the convenience of doing so?

If supplier needs to be integrated in the early process development that collecting all the information about that supplier is necessary. If supplier cannot work under pressure then it can impact on meeting demand of the customers. The supplier needs to be fully aware of the product and its demand in the market. Supplier should also know the expectation and should have all the sources to meet. The cost is also another major factor that might affect the decision on integrating the supplier at the early phase of product development. Supplier need to have proper logistic for delivering the product on time.

7. What do you think might be hurdles to overcome at Deere to integrate suppliers into the early phases of the product development process?

The early phase of the product development process is the most crucial and important phase because that includes the transforming of” idea” into operation to meet the final product. Therefore, proper planning is required to meet goal in timely manner. Some hurdles are:-

1) The organization need to know which supplier needs to be integrated

2) What type of data and information needs to be shared among the supplier?

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