Managing a Crisis Simulation Assignment
Order ID 53563633773 Type Essay Writer Level Masters Style APA Sources/References 4 Perfect Number of Pages to Order 5-10 Pages Description/Paper Instructions
Managing a Crisis Simulation Assignment
Signature Assignment: Managing a Crisis Simulation
Signature Assignment: Managing a Crisis Simulation
We hear it all the time: the first step to solving a problem is acknowledging that a problem exists. When a vendor repeatedly fails to perform as outlined in the service level agreement, partner organizations all too often take a submissive approach to the issue as if the problem will somehow resolve itself. This reluctance to act however, can have detrimental effects on the buying organizations reputation. Perpetuity in situations of this magnitude can not only result in poor operational performance, it can also lead to increased overhead costs and harmed customer relationships. More pointedly stated, inaction against a supplier who consistently fails to meet performance expectations is a huge mistake. To address and correct the issue, buying partners will need to create a course of action in the form of a process improvement plan to address the areas of concern without impacting customer satisfaction. The performance improvement plan should outline specific areas of opportunity for the supplier as well as root causes and proposed steps to remedy the situation.
Issues of Concern (Overview)
As a supply chain manager of a building company, I am responsible for overseeing sales and other business areas for company that sells building materials to contractors, construction companies, and project homeowners. Over the last several months however, I have been struggling with one of the company suppliers. The vendor, who supplies roofing nails, has had several complaints from customers ranging from late deliveries to damaged deliveries. I have even received complaints from customers regarding inaccurate quantities (or partial deliveries) that involve boxes of nails that include only a portion of the 1000 nail quantity listed on the box label. Since we are fast approaching peak season and are already at risk of losing some major customers as a result of this, a supplier performance improvement plan will be implemented to get the situation under control.
Steps to Identify Root Cause, Potential Containment, and Corrective Action
The first step is to identify the problem. The key to recognizing the issue and pinpointing the origin is to be objective in the approach. Therefore, when researching and investigating poor supplier performance, it is imperative for the company to look inwardly as well just to ensure the causes of such inadequate execution don’t rest within their own operations. If operational failures are ultimately the fault of the buying organization, it’s best to follow the below guideline and find out prior to addressing the supplier.
In terms of late deliveries, it will be equally important to assess:
- How many shipments were expected in during this time period?
- How many shipments were delivered during this time period?
- What percentage of shipments delivered late during this time period?
- What impact did this delivery failure have on the buying organization?
Rationale: Both asking and answering these questions will give the buying organization a more holistic view of their operational performance. If after review, it is determined that a significant (say 40+%) of their deliveries arrived late, it is likely that some of the blame lies outside of the supplier organization. Rather than calling out the supplier, it may then be a good idea to assess whether contractors are buying within their lead times or if there is a delay on the receiving end of the distribution center between the time product arrives and the time it gets logged into inventory.
In terms of damages, the following would items would need to be assessed:
- Packaging
- Stack ability
- Unit load design
- Pallet condition
- Shrink wrap effectiveness
- Trailer load design
- Number of touch points
- Transportation
- Climate and geography
Rationale: All components of the supply chain can be a source of damage including package design, manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, distribution, as well as mother nature herself. An effective corrective action plan will require a better understanding of how the damage occurred. For example, the material and strength of packaging, even package design can factor into damage. Consider that some types of cardboard are more puncture resistant and are best for shipping heavy items while other cardboard is better for printing and display pieces.
In the case of roofing nails, is the supplier shipping loose nails in a box or, are the nails secure in a plastic zip tie bag that is then placed inside of a box for transport?
And lastly, when reviewing delivery shortages, the following will need to be assessed:
- When did shortage complaints start to come in? Can it be narrowed down to a specific time window?
- How many deliveries were made in this same time frame?
- Are complaints coming from one customer repeatedly or several customers?
- What percentage of customers during this time frame have complained about partial deliveries?
Rationale: If complaints can be narrowed down to a specific time frame, identifying root cause of the issue becomes vastly easier for the vendor. For example, maybe the vendor implemented automation for counting as opposed to a workforce that did it manually. Or, perhaps the supplier is suddenly understaffed. Whatever the case, they’re much more likely to identify the cause if the option can be narrowed down. Likewise, if the building supply company performs this analysis and realizes that most (or all) their complaints are from one contractor, they may have identified a dishonest partner whom they may or may not want to continue doing business with.
Once the buying company has determined the problem, what is driving it, and what fixes need to be put in place to prevent repeat occurrence, it is time to move forward with “develop, sustain, or exit” initiative.
Improvement Plan with Lean Six Sigma Methodology
As with any degrading business relationship there lies the decision not to use the vendor anymore; and, performance is one of those contributing factors in the supplier management program that leads to one of three routes for suppliers.
- Develop – Work to develop a strategic partnership that is mutually beneficial and that possibly leads to increased orders.
- Sustain – Retain vendor as a tier 2 supplier but do not work award new product orders.
- Exit – Exit supplier relationship. Do not use.
The purpose of this supplier improvement plan is to create a formal plan to develop and manage supplier relationships while eliminating service failures. The initiative will go through the following steps in the improvement cycle:
- What is the vision as outlined in the service level agreement?
- Where are we now?
- Where do we want to be in the short term (30 days)?
- How do we get there?
- What will be the outcome if activity is not met?
- If met, how do we keep the momentum going?
How Supplier Compliance Will Be Monitored and Is Corrective Action Plan Effective
The key to superior supplier performance is the implementation of action plans and regular reviews. Once the objective facts have been documented from the root cause phase, historical performance measures have been captured, future goals have been established, and suppliers are onboard with the performance improvement plan, the buyers role is to monitor data to see whether the supplier is indeed improving their performance.
As to keep the supplier performance from negatively impacting customer satisfaction, it may be best practice to review vendor performance weekly to understand whether service failures are moving in the right direction.
After several cycles of successful or failed performance, the buyer can either continue to nurture and grow that relationship or choose to switch to another supplier who can more readily meet their expectations.
References:
Johnson, P. F., Flynn, A. Purchasing and Supply Management. [University of Phoenix]. Retrieved from https://phoenix.vitalsource.com/#/books/1259876934/
RUBRIC
QUALITY OF RESPONSE NO RESPONSE POOR / UNSATISFACTORY SATISFACTORY GOOD EXCELLENT Content (worth a maximum of 50% of the total points) Zero points: Student failed to submit the final paper. 20 points out of 50: The essay illustrates poor understanding of the relevant material by failing to address or incorrectly addressing the relevant content; failing to identify or inaccurately explaining/defining key concepts/ideas; ignoring or incorrectly explaining key points/claims and the reasoning behind them; and/or incorrectly or inappropriately using terminology; and elements of the response are lacking. 30 points out of 50: The essay illustrates a rudimentary understanding of the relevant material by mentioning but not full explaining the relevant content; identifying some of the key concepts/ideas though failing to fully or accurately explain many of them; using terminology, though sometimes inaccurately or inappropriately; and/or incorporating some key claims/points but failing to explain the reasoning behind them or doing so inaccurately. Elements of the required response may also be lacking. 40 points out of 50: The essay illustrates solid understanding of the relevant material by correctly addressing most of the relevant content; identifying and explaining most of the key concepts/ideas; using correct terminology; explaining the reasoning behind most of the key points/claims; and/or where necessary or useful, substantiating some points with accurate examples. The answer is complete. 50 points: The essay illustrates exemplary understanding of the relevant material by thoroughly and correctly addressing the relevant content; identifying and explaining all of the key concepts/ideas; using correct terminology explaining the reasoning behind key points/claims and substantiating, as necessary/useful, points with several accurate and illuminating examples. No aspects of the required answer are missing. Use of Sources (worth a maximum of 20% of the total points). Zero points: Student failed to include citations and/or references. Or the student failed to submit a final paper. 5 out 20 points: Sources are seldom cited to support statements and/or format of citations are not recognizable as APA 6th Edition format. There are major errors in the formation of the references and citations. And/or there is a major reliance on highly questionable. The Student fails to provide an adequate synthesis of research collected for the paper. 10 out 20 points: References to scholarly sources are occasionally given; many statements seem unsubstantiated. Frequent errors in APA 6th Edition format, leaving the reader confused about the source of the information. There are significant errors of the formation in the references and citations. And/or there is a significant use of highly questionable sources. 15 out 20 points: Credible Scholarly sources are used effectively support claims and are, for the most part, clear and fairly represented. APA 6th Edition is used with only a few minor errors. There are minor errors in reference and/or citations. And/or there is some use of questionable sources. 20 points: Credible scholarly sources are used to give compelling evidence to support claims and are clearly and fairly represented. APA 6th Edition format is used accurately and consistently. The student uses above the maximum required references in the development of the assignment. Grammar (worth maximum of 20% of total points) Zero points: Student failed to submit the final paper. 5 points out of 20: The paper does not communicate ideas/points clearly due to inappropriate use of terminology and vague language; thoughts and sentences are disjointed or incomprehensible; organization lacking; and/or numerous grammatical, spelling/punctuation errors 10 points out 20: The paper is often unclear and difficult to follow due to some inappropriate terminology and/or vague language; ideas may be fragmented, wandering and/or repetitive; poor organization; and/or some grammatical, spelling, punctuation errors 15 points out of 20: The paper is mostly clear as a result of appropriate use of terminology and minimal vagueness; no tangents and no repetition; fairly good organization; almost perfect grammar, spelling, punctuation, and word usage. 20 points: The paper is clear, concise, and a pleasure to read as a result of appropriate and precise use of terminology; total coherence of thoughts and presentation and logical organization; and the essay is error free. Structure of the Paper (worth 10% of total points) Zero points: Student failed to submit the final paper. 3 points out of 10: Student needs to develop better formatting skills. The paper omits significant structural elements required for and APA 6th edition paper. Formatting of the paper has major flaws. The paper does not conform to APA 6th edition requirements whatsoever. 5 points out of 10: Appearance of final paper demonstrates the student’s limited ability to format the paper. There are significant errors in formatting and/or the total omission of major components of an APA 6th edition paper. They can include the omission of the cover page, abstract, and page numbers. Additionally the page has major formatting issues with spacing or paragraph formation. Font size might not conform to size requirements. The student also significantly writes too large or too short of and paper 7 points out of 10: Research paper presents an above-average use of formatting skills. The paper has slight errors within the paper. This can include small errors or omissions with the cover page, abstract, page number, and headers. There could be also slight formatting issues with the document spacing or the font Additionally the paper might slightly exceed or undershoot the specific number of required written pages for the assignment. 10 points: Student provides a high-caliber, formatted paper. This includes an APA 6th edition cover page, abstract, page number, headers and is double spaced in 12’ Times Roman Font. Additionally, the paper conforms to the specific number of required written pages and neither goes over or under the specified length of the paper. GET THIS PROJECT NOW BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK TO PLACE THE ORDER
CLICK ON THE LINK HERE: https://www.perfectacademic.com/orders/ordernow
Also, you can place the order at www.collegepaper.us/orders/ordernow / www.phdwriters.us/orders/ordernow
Do You Have Any Other Essay/Assignment/Class Project/Homework Related to this? Click Here Now [CLICK ME]and Have It Done by Our PhD Qualified Writers!!