Case Study: Dell’s Famous Supply Chain
Question #1:
How might Dell use each of the five basic SCM components?
Answer:
Supply chain management has five basic components - Plan, Source, Make, Deliver and Return (Baltzan & Phillips, 2009, p.291). To run as a successful business Dell must always have an optimum performance in all those areas.
Dell should always plan ahead. Because their policy is not to store raw materials or finished products they have to plan all possible disaster scenarios and must have contingency plan to ensure that their factories are always getting raw materials and also factories keep functioning and producing finished products. They should also plan for future market demand and plan accordingly to ensure their supply chain doesn’t face any setbacks. Dell must be careful about choosing raw material/accessories suppliers. Not only in regards of quality of the product that they are supplying also about their delivery time frame and reliability. Dell also must be careful about the pricing agreements of the sources. First and foremost dell should be careful about getting stuck with single source for any raw material/accessories. It should make sure it has multiple sources for any raw materials/accessories and all of them are of same quality.
Make or production is something that Dell has the most control on. They have to be diligent one maintaining their quality to keep customers loyal and on the same time they need to make sure their production process is optimized to produce most cost effective products.
Delivery is also very hectic and troublesome activity for Dell because they need to delivery their finished products all over the world. They need to have an excellent delivery partner or process to make sure a finished product reaches their clients in good condition and on time.
Return is never a welcomed process but a necessary one nonetheless. Dell must have an excellent return process in place to allow any defective product to be returned for repair.
Question #2:
How
How might Dell use each of the five basic SCM components?
Answer:
Supply chain management has five basic components - Plan, Source, Make, Deliver and Return (Baltzan & Phillips, 2009, p.291). To run as a successful business Dell must always have an optimum performance in all those areas.
Dell should always plan ahead. Because their policy is not to store raw materials or finished products they have to plan all possible disaster scenarios and must have contingency plan to ensure that their factories are always getting raw materials and also factories keep functioning and producing finished products. They should also plan for future market demand and plan accordingly to ensure their supply chain doesn’t face any setbacks. Dell must be careful about choosing raw material/accessories suppliers. Not only in regards of quality of the product that they are supplying also about their delivery time frame and reliability. Dell also must be careful about the pricing agreements of the sources. First and foremost dell should be careful about getting stuck with single source for any raw material/accessories. It should make sure it has multiple sources for any raw materials/accessories and all of them are of same quality.
Make or production is something that Dell has the most control on. They have to be diligent one maintaining their quality to keep customers loyal and on the same time they need to make sure their production process is optimized to produce most cost effective products.
Delivery is also very hectic and troublesome activity for Dell because they need to delivery their finished products all over the world. They need to have an excellent delivery partner or process to make sure a finished product reaches their clients in good condition and on time.
Return is never a welcomed process but a necessary one nonetheless. Dell must have an excellent return process in place to allow any defective product to be returned for repair.
Question #2:
How