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Supply chain management : an in depth analysis of the export supply chains of Iris

Hartog, E.J. den (2011) Supply chain management : an in depth analysis of the export supply chains of Iris.

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Abstract:Lotus is the closures division of Hyacinth Inc., the world wide leader in packaging. Currently, one of their production locations for steel drum closures is IRIS, located in India. Besides sales to domestic and export customers in the Middle East, 52% of all products produced by IRIS are exported to Lotus sales centres and warehouses around the world. Over the last years, the number of complaints regarding the unreliability of supply from IRIS has increased severely. In many cases, these issues had to be resolved by last minute re-­‐allocating demand elsewhere in the Lotus network, which is very expensive in terms of transportation costs and heavily affects business of other production locations. Obviously, the image of Lotus being a reliable supplier is affected as well. These negative effects caused the need for a thorough research in order to improve the efficiency and reliability of supply from IRIS. To achieve this, we used the Supply Chain Operations Reference (or SCOR®) model, developed by the Supply Chain Council in 1996 to standardize description and evaluation of supply chain processes, to acquire of a detailed understanding of the problems causing these inefficiencies and unreliability. Using the same methodology, we also developed solutions for the problems found. A large number of problems (‘disconnects’ in SCOR®) and potential solutions (‘best practices’ in SCOR®) were found. The ‘disconnects’ found were grouped and filtered, resulting in 9 key problems with supply from IRIS (see Figure 1). Similarly, the ‘best practices’ were grouped and filtered to identify 16 solutions that can solve the 9 key themes (again see Figure 1). The key problem themes and solutions for these problems found during this research by using the SCOR® model are depicted in Table 1. All these solutions need to be developed into a detailed implementation schedule in order to solve the identified problems. Due to limitation in time, this research only developed this implementation schedule for the solution with the highest priority. With regards to this, we recommend Lotus® to: -­ Use and configure the new ERP system. As IRIS’s new ERP system is due to go live on April 1st, 2011, all adjustments needed in the ERP system to solve the supply chain issues, mainly related to internal planning and communication, need to be completed before then. -­ Use the developed supply chain dashboard. In order to quantify supply chain performance in terms of reliability and efficiency and to closely monitor actual performance when implementing the proposed solutions, the developed supply chain dashboard should be updated on a monthly basis. -­ Develop implementation schedules for the remaining solutions. The remaining solutions will need to be developed in detailed implementation schedules in order to solve all problems found during this research. Besides finding the key problems and presenting solutions for supply from IRIS, we like to believe that this research created the awareness needed to thoroughly improve and sustain the supply chain performance.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:Industrial Engineering and Management BSc (56994)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/63033
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