Ford Motor Co. Case Report

r [Type the company name]| Ford Motor Company: Supply Chain Strategy | [Type the document subtitle]| NICOLE | Table of Contents Page 3. Executive Summary Page 4. Identification Issues Page 5. Identification Issues, Environmental and Root Cause Analysis Page 6. Alternatives Page 7. Recommendation, Implementation, Control Page 8. Conclusions, References Executive Summary This case report addresses the challenges to implement virtual integration in Ford Motor Company, one of the largest automobile manufacturing companies in the world. It focuses on the viability of implementing a supply chain strategy following Dell’s â€Å"Direct Business model† Dell’s direct business model used information and technology to revolutionize the PC industry; it focused on developing effective supplier partnerships and JIT manufacturing becoming a highly horizontal or â€Å"virtual integrated† company. Dell skipped the intermediate retailers, selling to customers directly eliminating the reseller’s markup and the cost and risk associated with carrying large inventories. All this combined gave Dell a leading position in a very competitive market in only a 13 year period time. In 1970’s Ford’s main competition was with General Motors and Chrysler. However with the entry of Japanese companies like Honda, Toyota and Nissan the American firm faced a harder competition. In order to maintain its leading position, in 1995 Ford initiated the Ford 2000 plan; aimed to restructure many of their key processes like Order to Delivery (OTD) and Ford Production System (FPS). They wanted to reduce the OTD from 60 or more to 15 or less days. FPS was created to convert the supply chain from a push type to a pull type basing their forecast, production and inventory decisions on real market demands. The decision to radically redesign Ford’s supply chain infrastructure may significantly affect in a positive way the growth and competitiveness of Ford Motor Company in a short, mid and long term period. I strongly support the implementation of virtual integration and a pulled based system in Ford’s supply chain. It has been proven by Dell’s KPI’s that producing based on actual customer requirements using information technologies for the efficient information flow from the consumers all the way down to suppliers will directly improve the supply chain by reducing inventory levels and the related cost, reducing lead times, making your suppliers, the production systems and the overall SC more responsive and efficient. This new strategy will include the creation of an IT platform which its objective is to support an online operation, it will establish procedures to enable customization and ordering by customers via advanced EDI, this platform will be integrated to the physical dealerships as well so they can transmit in real time customer’s requirements. All customer orders would be taken either via Ford's web site or by phone and then produce. A pull system would be implemented completely. This Platform will also virtually integrated Ford’s supply chain where Ford and all its suppliers would share information by an intranet and Internet to coordinate in real time the flow of materials and production. Issues Identification Industries Differences One major issue is the differences between the auto business and the computer business were compared to Dell’s; Ford’s supplier network had many more layers and many more companies making Ford’s supply chain more complex than Dell’s. Change Management (short term issue) For the reasons above some Ford’s SC staff thought that the Dell’s direct business model will not deliver the same results for Ford. Ford’s staff never faced with the challenge of modifying work flow processes and standard operating procedures, this can result in employees being uncomfortable, dissatisfied and challenged by this new system, therefore they may fall back to their original habits. The adaptation of this new initiative at staff level will be a major challenge for Ford. Purchasing (short term issue, potentially long term issue) Different from Dell’s were purchasing activities reported to product development, Ford’s purchasing division is separate from product development, this is another source of disconnect in the supply chain. The efficient roll-out of new products may be impacted negatively due to lack of communication between these two key departments. Also suppliers were picked based on cost, and little regard was given to the overall supply chain cost. At this level of the supply chain restructuring may be difficult due to corporate history and politics. Information Technologies (short term issue, potentially long term issue) An important issue is the lack of technological knowledge and application throughout Ford’s supply chain, were first tier suppliers well developed IT capabilities interacting with Ford via EDI, but they were not able to invest in new technologies at the same rate as Ford did. The understanding of modernity technology rapidly decreased in the lower tiers of the supply chain. This situation was different to Dell’s supply chain, were by using new technologies Dell shared information in a real time fashion with its suppliers, helping them know Dell’s daily production requirements making the supplier more responsive to Dell’s needs. Also Dell only kept suppliers that maintained their leadership in technology and quality making the overall supply chain more competitive. Lead Times/Production Process (short term issue, potentially long term issue) The production at Ford is based on a predetermined schedule making its production system push based, creating high inventory levels with low turnover, in addition to this; bottlenecks were an issue in the material planning and vehicle production processes. So far this production system created a lead time of 65 days from the time a customer placed an order until the product was delivered, making the overall supply chain inefficient. Environmental and Root Cause Analysis Ford, as any other corporation is looking to achieve the ultimate goal; increase profit margins. The OTD and FPS initiatives established an aggressive goal to reduce lead times from over forty five days to fifteen days. To do this, it is necessary to improve the flow of information throughout the supplier network and reduce manufacturing time. The challenges faced include the unavailability of accurate demand information, poor supplier communication at every level, lack of interaction between product development and purchasing, and resistance to change within the organization. Ford’s current OTD time requires production to guess the real demands. Consumer demand is therefore met through a push rather than a pull manufacturing process. To move to a pull system and to improve demand forecasting, Ford must implement a process that will provide earlier demand notification to the supplier network. They must also be able to immediately link the actual orders to the manufacturing schedule at any of their almost two hundred manufacturing locations. Purchasing must also play an integral role in this process to insure the correct suppliers are receiving the information. Another important step for Ford is to coordinate thousands dealerships to transmit data sales efficiently, Dell’s business model involves direct manufacturer contact with the consumer, this greatly reduces order time by removing middle-man interference and inventory requirements. But for the automobile industry without the distribution channels will be impossible for a potential customer to decide to buy a car without testing it, seeing it and feeling it. For this reason the auto industry lacks this ability. Considering all the issues above and their associated challenges, would be fair to say that Ford’s multi-layered supply chain is in great need of a technological solution to its information sharing and communication needs. Alternatives 1. Keep Ford’s existing supply chain and initiatives of improvement without investing in a new IT platform: The existing initiatives such as FPS and OTD and their overall objectives and their supply management goals are a step in the right direction for providing the necessary data sharing with suppliers and therefore achieve the goals of Ford’s initiatives. Ford will have to rely on the actual technology (EDI) such as phone or email in some cases depending if it is a tier 1 suppliers can depend in a more sophisticated tools such as the FRN or the extranet created to connect ford with its suppliers in the B2B initiative. The advantage of this is that there will not be major changes and additional cost involved besides the ones related to the overall SC efficiency, the disadvantages of this is that it has been proven that any enterprise which is not up to date with the newest information technologies will not stay competitive and in a leadership position within mid and long terms, facing the chance of getting behind in a such competitive market. 2. Support Ford’s FPS and OTD initiatives by creating a specialized IT frame that will help to achieve the virtual integration in Ford’s SC. The initiatives above must now incorporate an advanced IT solution to be linked to the outside groups, tier-2 suppliers and upstream to the distribution network. The IT system will focus on developing the open sharing of real time demand information between the distribution network and the supplier pool. Further development of long-term supply contracts with key vendors and a continued focus on the sub-systems supply format will improve confidence while simplifying and speeding the entire process. Building linkages from the dealerships (Also is necessary to invest in the E-business infrastructure) all the way down to the lowest tiers, so the right people get the necessary data in the fashion and time that is needed to improve the SC. The disadvantage of this will be in the short term and probably midterm period, due to all the effort and extraordinary monetary investment that an initiative like this requires. If the system is poorly chosen, the entire initiative will fail. Technology costs, if not monitored and controlled, can escalate uncontrollably. Also while the platform is operational there may be unexpected issues which the staff and suppliers will not be able to solve causing inefficiencies in the supply chain, affecting Ford’s and its suppliers revenue directly. The advantage is that with an infrastructure like this Ford will virtually have automated its supply chain translating in achieving Ford’s initiatives and therefore their ultimate goal â€Å"Be more profitable and a leader automobile manufacturing company† Recommendation I strongly support the implementation of alternative number 2. Dell’s direct business model will be the guideline to follow when applying this model in Ford’s organization. Although there are several major differences between the companies, Dell’s direct business approach can be applied to every facet of Ford’s operation. The decision to support virtual integration will help redefine Ford as a competitive, cost effective and profitable company. Instead of remaining static, Ford must pursue continually evolve along with the new technologies trends, failure to incorporate the latest information technologies will result in continued inefficiencies and eventually Ford will be displaced from the automobile manufacturing leading positions. Implementation Stage 1 Accurate and timely information should be the primary focus of the IT implementation. For this stage, the existing FPS initiative should be combined more extensively with the existing intranet and extranet. Ford should leverage the B2B capabilities to incorporate upstream ordering information from the distribution network. To minimize risk, stage 1 should be applied on a specific product line and only with key suppliers (pilot projects). Initially, the information sharing may be a simple as providing real time demand to suppliers on a secured web site. Stage 2 Once this first stage has achieved quantitative results the IT objective will be to automate the order-to-scheduling process to adapt processes that would notify suppliers of orders and their manufacturing locations based upon every day orders from the dealerships. The objective is to develop information flow upstream from the suppliers. Ford will need to know on an accurate and real time fashion the suppliers individual daily capacities, only then Ford will be able to effectively allocate orders. Control Understanding this challenge, implementation plans will require phasing and adequate training, with follow through at all levels to ensure a predictable and comfortable transition. This stage should be split into manageable groups, action plans should be in place for addressing specific challenge areas, such as technically issues. The control will focus in monitoring the KPI’s within Ford and its suppliers, by this stage the refined IT solution will help to achieve FPS goals such as lower inventories, faster inventory turnovers, leaner manufacturing process, making the overall supply chain more cost effective and responsive, achieving the 15 days lead-time established by ODT. Conclusion Ford is an example of a company who can evolve at any stage of its existence; it is committed to be leader in the automobile market. They decision to implement major changes within the organization shows the determination to do anything to stay competitive, Ford knows that if they don’t keep up with the new trends, they will lose ground easily over the time. Once again I realize how the â€Å"information† plays the most important role within any organization, the effective and efficient manage of it will smooth any operation helping to achieve the expected results. Whether your company is vertical, horizontal or virtual integrated a key issue is to build based on real requirements delivered in real time. If everything starts with the right step, all of the following levels of the SC will enjoy a more organized and efficient process. Supporting these basic ideas with and efficient IT infrastructure will give the ultimate competitive advantage to any company it is applied. In conclusion if the recommended strategy is implemented successfully and in a timely manner, Ford will be positioned to become a dominant player in the automotive market enjoying great growth and larger profit margins. References Ford Motor Company: SC Strategy Case Study Harvard Business School by Robert D. Austin The Power of Virtual Integration: An Interview with Dell Computer’s Michael Dell by Joan Magretta.

Second Foundation Last Interlude

Bail Channis sat in the small white-tiled room and allowed his mind to relax. He was content to live in the present. There were the walls and the window and the grass outside. They had no names. They were just things. There was a bed and a chair an books that developed themselves idly on the screen at the foot of his bed. There was the nurse who brought him his food. At first he had made efforts to piece together the scraps of things he had heard. Such as those two men talking together. One had said: â€Å"Complete aphasia now. It's cleaned out, and I think without damage. It will only be necessary to return the recording of his original brain-wave makeup.† He remembered the sounds by rote, and for some reason they seemed peculiar sounds – as if they meant something. But why bother. Better to watch the pretty changing colors on the screen at the foot of the thing he lay on. And then someone entered and did things to him and for a long time, he slept. And when that had passed, the bed was suddenly a bed and he knew he was in a hospital, and the words he remembered made sense. He sat up: â€Å"What's happening?† The First Speaker was beside him, â€Å"You're on the Second Foundation, and you have your mind back – your original mind.† â€Å"Yes! Yes!† Channis came to the realization that he was himself, and there was incredible triumph and joy in that. â€Å"And now tell me,† said the First Speaker, â€Å"do you know where the Second Foundation is now?† And the truth came flooding down in one enormous wave and Channis did not answer. Like Ebling Mis before him, he was conscious of only one vast, numbing surprise. Until he finally nodded, and said: â€Å"By the Stars of the Galaxy – now, I know.†

Competitive Advantage and Disadvantage Between Minorities and Women in the Workforce

â€Å"It’s a small world. † How many times do we hear this in our everyday life? The internet, mass media, telecommunications, and mass transportation have all contributed to the shrinking of the international market. As companies become more and more diverse, it’s becoming more and more important for the employees to understand and manage it. For my research paper, I’ve decided to find out the competitive advantage and disadvantage between minorities and women in the workplace.Diversity in the workplace is a topic that many industries and organizations spend an abundant amount of time and training on in order to ensure its presence. Today’s workplace is more diverse than it has ever been in the history of America. 1 out of 4 Americans belong to a minority or is foreign-born. Women are making up less than half of the work force. Whether you are a business owner, executives, salesperson, or customers, your success will increasingly depend on your abi lity to function in a culturally diverse marketplace. Women, people of color, and immigrants will soon hold almost ? of all jobs in this country.In order to effectively manage diversity and recognize it as a source of strength instead of conflict, we will need to be educated and reprogrammed to accept and embrace diversity. In the world today, it is a face that a lot of people believe that racism is no longer exists. Little do they know, as of 2010, the National Organization of Women believes that the U. S. still needs an affirmative action plan. African American women earned 63 cents to a dollar for the jobs that men do, and Hispanic women earn 57 cents to the dollar and Blacks have twice the unemployment rates of whites.Minority and immigrant groups are often disadvantaged in gaining access to jobs for which they are educationally qualified and earn less than their white counterparts. Descriptive results showed greater overall underemployment among females than males. Blacks and H ispanics had higher unemployment and working poverty rates compared to non-Hispanic whites and Asians, with job mismatch highest among Asians. Immigrant underemployment was greater than that of the native-born Americans. Asians posted the largest disparity in immigrant versus native-born underemployment, and blacks had the smallest.The double disadvantage hypothesis of minority group and immigrant status is accepted only for Asian men and women with jobs mismatched to their skills and for Asian women, who are most likely to be unemployed or be among the working poor. Asian immigrants’ women have the characteristics to stay at home, cleaning house, shy, and less aggressive, which transform to have less attached to the workforce. Researchers have shown great interest in the study of gender and race effects on promotions outcomes.The evidence suggests that women are disadvantaged such that they are less likely to be promoted than their equal qualified male counterparts. Lacks of advancement opportunities is major contributors to voluntary quit decisions by employees that fitted the job well and contribute to the company they belong. Employment decisions should be based on skills and ability, allowing all employees to put their talents to good use and work together to get the best possible outcome. America is not the only place in the world that’s facing the challenge of workplace discrimination.Within the UK, construction has an unenviable status as being the industry with the lowest representation of women and ethnic minority employees. The construction workplace presents a challenging and hostile environment for non-traditional workers, and women and ethnic minority employees face both similar and different challenges and attitudinal barriers. Discriminatory behavior perform by the dominant white male workforce is unbearable, as are informal recruitment practices, exclusive networks and a competitive culture. As the turn of the new millennium, the proportion of minority members living n poverty, attending poorly funded schools, or experiencing other forms of disadvantage far exceed the proportion of whites under these conditions. It was found that the minority residents of communities with large minority populations were in worse socioeconomic conditions than the minority residents of predominately white communities. Furthermore it was found that as minority concentration increased, white residents tended to do better. In addition, the extent of racial inequality between minority and white residents was greater in communities with larger minority populations.The improvement of education and training to minority residents of racially concentrated communities will be very beneficial, not only to the people itself, also think of it as a better country as a whole. There is little question that the improvement of educational levels and employment skills of minority residents communities will pay dividends in the near future. The growing markets of Latin America, Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe are now playing an ever more important role in global buying, selling and manufacturing.Diversity within a company can help the firm better understand the culture, customs, and the way of doing business internationally. Customers also prefer to do business with a workforce that which they can identify, and that have a strong commitment to their community. There are many advantages to having a work environment that is diverse. A company that is prepared for changes in demographics is prepared for the market changes as well as the changes in the pool of applicants. Having a diverse workplace creates an increase in attracting and retaining the most qualified candidates.Diversity programs within corporations improve corporate culture, help in recruitment, and help to maintain better client relations. In conclusion diversity in workforce is growing in all countries, specially America, Canada, and Europe. With having m ore diverse work environment, organization can produce better performance. It is important for the companies to know diversity and how to handle the issues relating to it. Also the need of the diverse workforce is getting more not only because there are different people but also because they can produce better results with having different types of people working.Leaders in the organizations must learn diversity and how to manage it effectively. One of the reasons, aside that my family is back in Hong Kong, that I will end up going back to Hong Kong as soon as I graduate college is because as much as I don’t want to say it, I can feel discrimination everyday in my life. As little as just playing basketball on a nice day, someone around you will always have the stereotype about how you look and what to expect. We can arguably say that America is the â€Å"melting pot† of the world, but racism, in my book, will never escape in the use of our everyday life.

Democratic Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Democratic Theory - Essay Example It takes care of subjects related with political pluralism, equality in the wake of law and the right to submit petition for the elected officials. (Young, 2000) It also brings to light different matters pertaining to human rights, civil liberties, a number of varied elements of the civil society and the different institutions working under the auspices of the government of the state. The origin of democracy has come about from the Ancient Greek times. The Ancient Greek political and philosophical thoughts made use of democracy and its different undertakings in their day to day affairs and practice. Plato called democracy as the system of rule by the governed, which summed the whole essence of democracy in its truest sense. The Republics of Ancient India had some instances and traces of civilizations of democracy within their ranks. This was way before the birth of the Buddha. Thus the origins of democracy stretch quite back in time and a number of nations can hold themselves in line with the original basis that was brought forward by this system of government, ruling and indeed legislation. (Przeworski) In its truest meaning, democratic theory is a political philosophy more than anything else. It is a form of government which exists for the people and brought in essence by the people. Democracy calls for competitive elections which are mandatory within such a form of government. What this does is to elect people or office bearers who get the most votes in such an election exercise. These elections bring to light the aspects of freedom of speech, freedom for the press and television and radio as well as a general exercise of law within the very state in which elections are being carried out. (Gabardi, 2001) In the name of democracy, it is significant that the civilian control of the military is kept away as much as possible since this gives rise to military dictatorship regimes and thus intervenes in the smooth political affairs and their

Plagiarism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Plagiarism - Essay Example Plagiarism usually applies to specific texts that are print published, texts that are online, manuscripts, not forgetting the work of other writers. Thus, if plagiarism is present, either intentional or unintentional, it results to low or poor quality of the paper submitted either by a student or the author irrespective of their rank (Ali et al, 2011). Most students are aware of the consequences arising from actions that constitute plagiarism. For instance, if student copies information that is published into a newspaper and it does not attribute the source for the main purpose of claiming the information is his own, or even the act of turning another student’s constitute plagiarism. Moreover, plagiarism has a negative externalities on students in the form of low grades for students who plagiarize thereby diminishing the education credentials or grade for a student (Dee and Jacob, 2012). Plagiarism may lead to an institution or an individual being sued by the author who owns t he ideas plagiarized for breach of intellectual property law. In addition, university authorities should do well not to desist in attempting to dissuade students from plagiarism (Selwyn, 2008); moreover, good college experience for students lies in the synthesizing of the ideas gained in class and reproducing them in their own unique way while avoiding plagiarism. Quoting is one of the strategies used in avoiding plagiarism when referring to wordings that are factual or a statement that are hard to change without altering the intended meaning. When using this strategy it is advisable to write the authors’ exact words using quotation marks, and when quoting longer quotes it is advisable to put as in an indented paragraph and the source included either within the text of paper or on the footnote. An example of a quotation would be: â€Å"Adam Winkler who studies constitutional-law at the U.C.L.A was able to broadly demonstrate in his book Gunfight how fire arm possession has b een regulated in the United States of America† (Jill, 2012). In case of quoting longer sections the writer should use a block quote such as: Adam Winkler who studies constitutional-law at the U.C.L.A was able to broadly demonstrate in his book Gunfight how firearm possession has been regulated in the United States of America. Regulation of firearms has been done in Kentucky and Louisiana through having concealed weapons being passed in these cities. The rules were later implemented in the cities of Indiana in 1820, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama and Ohio by end of 1859. The law was gradually adopted eventually spread to Texas Oklahoma and Florida. The governor of Texas explained that concealing a dangerous weapon is murdering an individual and therefore it is the duty of every one to respect a man who obeys the law (Jill, 2012). Paraphrasing is another strategy used in avoiding plagiarism which involves the putting someone else ideas in your own words at the same time ensuring t he words are not rearranged or replaced with few words. In addition, it entails reading, internalizing the ideas presented and then writing them in one’s own words, and eventually citing the source from which the text was read from since the idea was got from that specific source. It is important to note that when a student does not have sufficient time to conduct research essential to effectively complete their research paper they can cite that of another person who did the research, but acknowledge them by