Gap Analysis: Kuiper Leda

Gap Analysis: Kuiper Leda

Supply chain management refers to the process that aims to satisfy, with optimal efficiency, the requirements of customers through the planning, control, and implementation of supply chain operations. According to Hau L. Lee, a professor at the Graduate School of Business and the School of Engineering at Stanford, “supply chain management involves the flows of material, information, and finance in a network consisting of customers, suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors” (2000, p. 31). In other words, supply chain management entails a set of interactions among several entities, each taking a distinct role, in a network across which materials, finance, and information flow (Kotrill, 2002). A substantial amount of activities are executed and harmonized within, as well as between, organizations; every firm or company engages in at least one supply chain interaction relationship with another. The effective management of complex global supply chains, according to Lee (2000, p. 32), entails “tight integration between partners.” It is like a pair ballroom dancers on the floor needing constant synchrony to deliver the dance routine well. Undoubtedly, supply chain management has become a global organization’s most potent business tool for cost reduction while improving production performance and reliability, as well as customer satisfaction.

This paper provides an inventory model, based on generalizations of the operation-management theorems discussed by Chase, Jacobs, and Aquilano (2005), as a viable solution to a company’s current production inadequacies. The company in focus is Kuiper Leda, Inc., which is a manufacturer of electronic components, particularly radiofrequency identification devices, electronic control units, and sensors catering original equipment manufacturers in the automotive industry. From a bird’s eye view, Kuiper Leda is currently production-capacity deficient in addressing additional client requirements and demands. More specifically, Kuiper Leda’s production inadequacies lie in its inventory tracking, production planning, and supply chain management system. While Kuiper Leda establishes itself through the principle of constant upgrades of its existing technological base, the company is now, more than ever, seeking to optimize key components in its production through the application of technology-based alternatives. By treating Kuiper Leda’s problem as one of reliability-type inventory, a gap analysis is carried out to explore possible plans of action.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

On the surface it appears that Kuiper Leda’s main problem is prompted by a viable growth opportunity in increasing the number, as well as the business