Kuiper Benchmarking

Kuiper Benchmarking

  • Submitted By: nellie1209
  • Date Submitted: 12/08/2008 1:02 PM
  • Category: Business
  • Words: 1812
  • Page: 8
  • Views: 1

Kuiper Leda Benchmarking – MBA 550
Concept: Assessing Existing Supply Chain Management Strategies
A successful supply chain management will help retailers and suppliers improve the way they manage their processes. There are many existing supply chain strategies and some of them are even considered best practices. Lean manufacturing, Just In Time inventory, forecasting, six sigma and enterprise resource planning are considered some best practices. As seen from the result of benchmarking, Sport Obermeyer took steps to improve their supply chain management practices and utilized some existing practices to its advantage. The company used several methods to forecast customer needs and wants in order to meet customer satisfaction. “Forecasts are vital to every business organization and for every significant management decision. Forecasting is the basis of corporate long-run planning” (Chase et al, 2006). Production and operations personnel can greatly benefit from forecasting. It helps them make periodic decisions which involve process selection, capacity planning, and facility layout, as well as for continual decisions about production planning, scheduling, and inventory (Chase et al, 2006). Successful forecasting leads to accurate response. The concept of accurate response is a powerful tool when applied to innovative products. When this concept was applied to Sport Obermeyer, markdowns and stockouts were reduced significantly, with a considerable improvement in profitability.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is another existing supply chain management practice. It is a significant component of supply-chain management. “The wireless technology records and transmits data on a range of product-tracking needs. Targeted primarily at retail and industrial end-users, RFID can streamline operations and reduce product-handling costs” (Toensmeier, 2005). Though broad commercialization is at least five years away, companies attracted by its benefits are...

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