Part one
Question one
Most manufacturing companies’ emphasize on using lean thinking since it helps in eliminating waste, boosting innovation, cutting costs, optimizing processes and minimizing time in marketing (Melton, 2005). Lean manufacturing results in sustainably establishing value to customers. For example a cabling company which experienced increased set up times and high lead time to market installed a scheduling system which enhanced just in time manufacturing and upstream balance production of parts with downstream manufacturing and assembly. This resulted to reduced machine set ups to thirty five minutes which were previously five hours per machine.
Overproduction is the process of producing more products than what is required hence having excessive inventory in the stores (Melton, 2005). It is considered as the greatest waste in the manufacturing process since it the main cause of the other wastes. It cost the manufacturing company the transportation cost in acquiring the excess raw materials, space for the storage of the excess inventory, decreased inventory turns, increased lead time and waste motion by employees as they move round excess inventories hence early fatigue. Many companies will continue finding themselves overproducing due to unreliability of deliveries from suppliers and also to minimize long set up costs through producing in batches and standard costs.
Customers benefit from the high quality products manufactured by the company. The aim of lean manufacturing is generally creating value to the customers (Melton, 2005). They therefore ensure the produce quality products which will fulfill customers’ satisfaction. Also the customers benefit most from enhanced services provided to them by them staff of manufacturing company. The management in a manufacturing company is always focused on improving customer’s interaction. They ensure good communication between customers and staff, fulfillment of customers and staff concern and enhanced experiences with the product to the staff. As they ensure customers value is increased in the above ways, the cost of wasteful production is reduced.
Part 2
Question one
Supply chain management involves the combination of various elements which include operations management, logistics, procurement and IT. To ensure sufficiency in supply chain management, the following aspects need to be considered : demand management which ensures value is added to customers through proper stocking (Stahl, 2015). The management should be able to anticipate and understand demands. Also, managing communication should be considered by ensuring each concerned staff member is informed and aslo providing a loop fo feedback.
Other aspects include developing partners integration through collaborative tools , using single information networks and using open internet procedures (Badwi, 2019). This ensures that a company can deliver products to the market more quickly and offer competitive prices to customers. Ensuring enhanced prediction analytics is the other aspect which involves predicting fulfillments more intelligently through adapting new analytical techniques (Stahl, 2015). Leverage is the final aspect that result to profitability in a company if it is re-evaluated regularly.
Question two
Since the supply chain process is a dynamic process, some issues may be encountered in it managing its evolvement (Vaio, 2019). One of the main issues is coping with increased demand from customer which has resulted to producers investing much in the supply chain. Nowadays, providing a quality product to customers quickly and more reliably is never considered as a competitive advantage since most suppliers have been able to do the same. More improved supply chain methods are required to be adopted.
The other issue is employees adapting to change due to implementation of integration in external supply chain (Oláh, Zéman, Balogh & Popp, 2018). More cooperation is required at different stages of management and also to other employees to help them embrace the change and adapt quickly to it. In implementation of integrated external supply chain the management should factor out its impact in the company and also management before integration to ensure smooth change.
References
Badwi, M. (2019). The 4 core elements of supply chain management. Retrieved 29 November 2020, from https://www.scjunction.com/blog/core-elements-supply-chain-management
Melton, T. (2005). The Benefits of Lean Manufacturing. Chemical Engineering Research And Design, 83(6), 662-673. doi: 10.1205/cherd.04351
Oláh, J., Zéman, Z., Balogh, I., & Popp, J. (2018). Logforum, 14(1), 127-138. doi: 10.17270/j.log.2018.238
Stahl, A. (2015). 5 Key Aspects of Intelligent Supply Chain Management. Retrieved 29 November 2020, from https://www.kelsercorp.com/blog/5-key-aspects-of-intelligent-supply-chain-management
Vaio, T. (2019). Six Key Trends Changing the Supply Chain Management Today. Retrieved 29 November 2020, from https://www.sdcexec.com/sourcing-procurement/news/10358095/hitachi-consulting-six-key-trends-changing-the-supply-chain-management-todayhttps://www.sdcexec.com/sourcing-procurement/news/10358095/hitachi-consulting-six-key-trends-changing-the-supply-chain-management-today