Operations and Supply Chain Case Studies

In today’s environment of global shopping where the demand for products is as wide as the number of firms offering them, orders can be placed in advance or at a moment’s notice from across the globe. The question of the manufacturer or reseller is how to best manage production across the supply chain. This paper will have two parts to it; part one will review the case study of the Realco Breadmaster. It will provide analysis on the current supply chain management and will make recommendations for a more strategic approach. Part two will focus on a case study for Toyota. This case will focus on quality and the Lean philosophy.
First, it is important to provide some foundation support of what operations and supply chain management entail. Every firm or organization must make a product or provide a service to someone that is needed or valued. Operations are the collection of people, technology, and systems that are in a firm whose primary responsibility is to provide the company’s products or services (Bozarth & Handfield, 2008). “Supply chain is the network of manufacturers and service providers that convert and move good from the raw materials state through to the end user” (Bozarth & Handfield, 2008, p.4). Planning and controlling operations and supply chains are critical to the strategic plan of an organization, and so is the coordination and communication with other functional areas of the firm’s supply chain partners. Aggregate or sales and operations planning takes it a step further to include the process that facilitates an organizations plan and coordinate operations and supply chain decisions over a specific period of time.
Inventory is the stock of items used to support production, supporting activities and customer service. It is the “bread and butter” that keeps manufacturing firms in business, and