Task: Supply Chain Management
Here is some information you have obtained from management concerning Oregon:
• Facilities P and T both claim that parts from the S facility sometimes do not arrive on time, causing costly production shutdowns that periodically lead to missed contractual ship dates.
• The S facility has records that those same parts were loaded onto trailers and that the semitrailers left on time.
• Facility S habitually runs out of the accessory parts, which are shipped from the T and P facilities.
• There have been recent instances where over seven shifts of production from a single molding machine have been defective due to a malfunctioning mold.
• Similar quality problems have occurred when the wrong plastic resins have been used for some molded parts.
• Work-in-process (WIP) within the stamping department is sometimes misplaced or lost, disrupting downstream manufacturing processes and leading to missed shipments to the T and P facilities.
Upon arriving on site and interviewing the production- and inventory planning staffs at all three facilities, you hear the following:
• Facility S claims that there have been instances where they have been over one day ahead of their shipping schedule for specific parts and that the T and P facilities were still claiming they were out of that part. Then, the missing parts were located in a still-loaded semitrailer in the yard adjacent to the P and T facilities.
• The production- and inventory-planning staff at the T and P facilities claim to be shipping the accessory parts to the S facility on a JIT (just-in-time) basis and that their shipments should be adequate to support the S facility's requirements on a level production plan.
• The small quality control group at the S facility points out that it does not have the equipment or training to perform quality checks to the same level that facilities P and T are able to perform.
• Due to recent economic conditions, only a single supervisor is available in the stamping department and in the molding department during midnight shifts and on weekends.
Assignment Guidelines:
• In 850–1,200 words, summarize your findings and develop recommendations for the following topics:
o Communications
o Materials and inventory
o Order entry
o Supervision at the plants
o General production flow
• Compile your individual findings and recommendations into a Word document, and submit the file.
• Be sure to reference all sources using APA style.