Kudler Operation Overview

Kudler Operation Overview

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Kudler Fine Food's current operational procedures and to determine what changes could exist if local growers were contracted as a supplier of organic produce. In addition, this paper will measure and recommend suggestions for the organization's supply chain strategy as well as, describe the quality control tools and performance standards that will keep Kudler running at an optimal level.

Business Process Changes

Understanding how processes work is essential to ensuring the competitiveness of a company. A process that does not match the needs of the firm will punish the firm every minute that the firm operates" (Chase, Jacobs, & Aquilano, 2005). The Kudler organization uses multi-stage processes to ensure that products are moved with efficiency from the supplier to the consumer. For example, the meat department orders poultry from a supplier. Next, the supplier sends the poultry to the store for the department manager to inspect. After the poultry passes inspection, it is available for consumers to purchase.

In addition to fresh bakery, produce, meat, and seafood, Kudler Fine Foods is considering outsourcing the stores organic department to local growers. If this occurs, processes involving training, purchasing, inventory, advertising, merchandising, pricing, and forecasting will be added or modified to ensure that the organic foods department will add value to the company. Kudler will also need to include an organic foods training module. Each produce manager and sales associate will need to understand organic food standards in order to relay this information to the customers. This knowledge will also assist produce managers with making accurate purchasing decisions to guarantee the best quality. Because excess inventory is a concern for the organization, department managers will also have to monitor organic merchandise to make sure items are selling and producing income. Conversely, produce managers must be cognizant of items available in order to meet customer needs. Additional room will be needed for merchandise layouts and advertising displays. Forecasting, which is already a challenge for the Kudler organization, will prove to be more of a challenge because produce managers will have to predict the quantities on hand for both organic and non-organic items. Lastly, pricing for the organic food line will also have an affect on the overall process because managers will have to assign a price to the quality and freshness of organic items.

Supply Chain Changes

Not only