Kuiper Leda Case Study

Running head: PROBLEM SOLUTION: KUIPER LEDA

Problem Solution: Kuiper Leda (Week 6)

Angela C. Greene

University of Phoenix

Problem Solution: Kuiper Leda

In today’s business environment, a company, such as Kuiper Leda needs to have a clear understanding for the need to have an efficient supply chain management system. This is needed in order to gain a competitive advantage within any desired industry. By creating an understanding of the many various interactions that occur between the system’s manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and its customers, helps to create a more efficient and effective supply chain management system. Examining the supply chain of Kuiper Leda, I will attempt to determine if Kuiper Leda’s practice meets today’s sufficiency for RFIR demands of manufacturing.

Kuiper Leda is currently faced with an opportunity to grow its business by acquiring more and larger clients for its manufactured electronic components. The company needs to ensure that its current supply chain is streamlined. Kuiper Leda, who specializes in producing Electronic Control Units (ECUs), has customers who include manufacturers in the automobile industry and OEMs. The company recently entered into the production line of Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFIS). This production line has only been in operation for a short-time. Kuiper Leda now has many of the same supply management concerns, such as the availability of resources, production capacity, and on time delivery of their products to customers. With its ever fluctuating demand in recent months, it has seemingly taken its affect on Kuiper Leda’s already overloaded supply chain. Having built and maintained a strong reputation with its customers, the company has come to be recognized for its quality and delivery responsiveness. Kuiper Leda is part of a very competitive industry, so it’s no wonder that Kuiper Leda has come to thrive on their client’s repeat orders and their relationships with their suppliers, however, they are careful to acknowledge a clear awareness of its competitors and the business environment. Due to the large scale of operations, Kuiper Leda must focus its immediate attention on the company’s ability to manage their capacity and delivery. With this latest production, there appears to be no uniformity in the current production process, which has left their suppliers struggling to keep up with Kuiper Leda’s customer demands and specific requirements. Although Kuiper Leda must maintain its customer responsiveness, they need to also ensure that the plant or its suppliers are not adversely affected by the increase in demand.

Due primarily to the increase in recent immediate demand, Kuiper Leda�s current supply chain has become ineffective, therefore, Kuiper Leda has sought to making changes. Kuiper Leda currently employs a software system, Material Requirement Planning (MRP), which is basic software designed for use in production planning and inventory control, which largely manages the manufacturing process. Kuiper Leda uses the MRP as a means of achieving certain specific goals that include:

• To ensure that delivery of materials and products are on-time for production

• To ensure the availability of materials to maintain the lowest possible level of inventory; and

• To better plan manufacturing activities such as delivery schedules and purchasing activities.

With having a full comprehension and make the most of the software’s capability, Kuiper Leda will have the opportunity to manage its inventory and address its other related concerns.

With having an efficient management of its operations, it will prove to be meaningful, as it collates to the three major objectives identified. As an industry leader, Kuiper Leda has come to recognize that in order to compete successfully and to remain competitive in both the domestic and foreign markets, will depend greatly on the company’s capability to develop an operations strategy that aligns accurately to its mission to serve and deliver to its customers (Chase-Jacobs-Aquilano, 2006)

Kuiper Leda recognizes that it is vital to the company’s sustainability to employ the most efficient and most profitable options available to them in order to support its outsourcing objectives. The options being considered are:

1. To manufacture the products in-house,

2. To outsource