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QUESTION 1 [16] CASE STUDY 1: THABANG VAN WYK IT SUPPLIERS
1.1 Read the case study below and answer questions that follow:
“In 2015, Thabang van Wyk IT Suppliers (TvWTS) did what would seem to be a near impossible task. It began doing business with 5,000 suppliers over the Internet-sending purchase orders, receiving invoices and paying suppliers, all using World Wide Web as its transaction-processing network”. Setting up 5,000 suppliers to do business on the Internet was relatively easy compared to the resistance of suppliers to link to TvWTS via EDI (electronic data interchange). Suppliers who did not have large contracts with TvWTS balked at EDI because of the expense of special software and a VAN (value
added network) that were needed to do EDI. No such problem with using the Internet: Suppliers do not need special software or a costly VAN to do business with TvWTS.
The Internet’s simplicity reduces costs for TvWTS and its suppliers. TvWTS estimated that it saved R25 in 2015 by moving procurement to the Web, and believes that is only the tip of the iceberg. Much of the savings came from eliminating intermediaries. TvWTS uses the Web to manage multiple tiers of suppliers and as a tool to work with suppliers to improve quality and reduce costs. But cost reduction was not the only reason TvWTS switched to Internet procurement. Web-based procurement is a key part of its supplier management strategy: TvWTS sees great value in using the Internet to collaborate with suppliers and tap into their expertise much more rapidly than previously. “The Internet will also allow TvWTS to collaborate with suppliers over scheduling issues. If the company wants to increase production of a certain product it will be able to check with component suppliers and determine if suppliers can support the increase. If there are schedule cutbacks, it will be able to notify suppliers almost instantaneously and excess inventory can be avoided”. And although supply chains are viewed as sequential, TvWTS does not necessarily want to manage them that way. Rather, it wants to use the Internet to manage multiple tiers of suppliers simultaneously. An example of this is how it deals with CMs (contract manufacturers). The company sends forecasts and purchase orders to the CMs for the printed circuit boards they supply. It also gives all the component manufacturers the requirements and they ship parts directly to the CM. The company estimates it saved in excess of R15 million in 2015. “The savings were the difference between contract manufacturer’s price for components used on the boards and TvWTS’ s price that it had negotiated with component suppliers”. Because the Internet is becoming crucial to TvWTS’ s supplier management strategies. TvWTS is trying to make it easier for suppliers to do business over the Web. The company has developed a Web based portal to provide a single entry point to TvWTS. As is the case with most large companies. TvWTS has multiple interfaces with its suppliers, including engineering, quality, as well as purchasing, and typically suppliers have to connect to separate URLs (universal resource locators) in a company. TvWTS’ s portal provides a single point of entry for suppliers, making it easier for suppliers to do business with TvWTS and increasing the speed of the supply chain. Speed is vitally important in the electronics industry due to very short product life cycles. If products do not get to the market quickly, most of the profit opportunity is lost. Still another benefit envisioned by TvWTS will be the ability to form strategic alliances with some of its suppliers. In the past, the fact that many suppliers used by TvWTS for its production processes were as far as 5,000 kilometres away made it difficult to build strategic alliances with them. TvWTS believes that using the Internet will strengthen relations and enable it to develop alliances. “The Internet also will play an important role in TvWTS’s general procurement. TvWTS was doing EDI with core production suppliers, but not with other forms of general procurement. Purchasers were still faxing and phoning orders, which is timely and costly”.
1. How did TvWTS achieve cost reductions by the Internet for procurement? (3)
2. What advantage did TvWTS’s use of the Internet have for small suppliers? (3)
3. Aside from cost reduction, what major value does TvWTS envision for its interaction with suppliers? (3)
4. How does use of the Internet for procurement reduce mistakes? Indicate how using the Internet made that benefit possible. (4)
5. How does having a Web-based portal help TvWTS’s suppliers? (3)
QUESTION 2 [18] CASE STUDY 2: QUALITY AT ABC (PTY) Ltd
Protect life. Protect truth. That is the mission of ABC (PTY) Ltd, the company that produces public safety technologies such as Taser electrical smart weapons and body cameras for law enforcement around the globe. In business since 1993, the company manufactures three weapons lines inside its high-tech headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. Ninety-nine percent of its customers are in law enforcement, military, correctional, and professional security organisations. Designing and manufacturing smart weapons technologies requires precise engineering and production processes that can assure both accuracy and operational safety for its organisational customers and personal protection buyers. This attention to detail is evidenced in the manufacturing operation is organised. ABC (PTY) Ltd’s manufacturing operations are ISO 9001:2008 certified.
All finished goods are produced to stock, so that the company can be responsive when an order is received. Sales history data helps dictate which items to make to stock, and which could sit in inventory between six to twelve weeks before being sold. Most employees have undergone voluntary exposure to the weapons, including the founders.
ABC’s work cells are arranged by product. At the start of the week, each cell is given a “production order” document that lists the bill of materials for order is released by ABC (PTY) Ltd’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, with raw materials required
from assembly pulled and staged at each cell weekly. In addition to supporting the informational needs of all the functional areas of a firm, ERP systems support to manufacture of a firm’s products by scheduling the fabrication of components and the arrival of purchased materials in support of the overall production plan.
ABC (PTY) Ltd’s attention to quality is embedded throughout its manufacturing processes. Raw materials are tested and inspected for quality conformance at the supplier to assure no faulty components are shipped. Circuit boards, which are assembled domestically, are each tested prior to shipment, and then acceptance sampling at ABC (PTY) Ltd’s receiving dock confirms shipment conformance. The same process occurs for the supplier of injection-molded components, such as weapons casings. Testing includes functionality checks, drop tests to assure the product can withstand being dropped, and temperature checks to assure the assure the weapons will work between a temperature range of -20 Centigrade and +-%50 Centigrade. When finished goods are ready, ABC (PTY) Ltd per forms a final quality assurance check on 100% of goods to assure everything functions properly prior to shipping to the customer. All goods come with a one-year warranty.
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