Sport Obermeyer Case Study

2.) The cycle time between initial design of the ski parkas and the final sale to retailers begins in Febuary 1992 and ends in Septembe1993r, a total cycle time of approximately seventeen months. This lengthy cycle time is necessary for Sport Obermeyer to develop several attractive designs for the annual Las Vegas trade show where 80% of sales are made and eventually these designs are finalized six months later. This cycle also incorporates several major processes starting with the selection of appropriate designs, gauging consumer demand, finalizing concepts and designs, developing prototypes, taking orders and the final full scale roll-out of production. Extended lead times during production also adds several months to the total cycle time. With a variety of ski parka products, customization of raw materials during several stages of production also drags out the total cycle time. This long cycle time also makes it difficult for Sport Obermeyer to obtain accurate demand forecasts. Long lead times in production and a lack of flexibility in production make it difficult for Sport Obermeyer to meet their sales projections and adapt to changes in consumer demand, which greatly affects the company’s bottom line.
3.)
* We recommend, in an effort to reduce the overall cycle time of Sport Obermeyer products from design to retail sale, reducing lead times during production using more standardized raw materials. Doing so will also help Sport Obermeyer improve its manufacturing capacity and efficiency. Sport Obermeyer can also reduce its production lead times by developing stronger relationships with raw material suppliers, which will give the company more flexibility to respond to changes in demand. * We also recommend that Sport Obermeyer stagger sales in an effort to obtain more accurate demand forecasts. We recommend having individual forecasts for each item, grouping these figures and taking the mean and standard deviation of these group figures.