Custom Molds Case Summary

Business Brief
Founded in 1987 by a father-and-son team, Custom Molds, Inc. was formed to design and produce custom molds for plastic parts. By the mid-1990s, the company expanded into the manufacture of plastic parts. As of 2009, the sales mix at the company changed, causing problems. Bottlenecks are occurring during the production process, causing delays in customer deliveries. In addition, a few orders have been returned because of defective parts.
Analysis
Tom and Mason Miller, the owners of Custom Molds, face a number of major issues in their business. The first issue lies in the changing environment. Electronics manufacturers are developing strategic partnerships with parts suppliers, such as Custom Molds. This has changed their sales mix: there are decreased orders for multiple molds and increased order sizes for plastic parts.
Increased customer complaints are another major issue for the company. Customer orders, which originally had a turn-around time of three weeks, now take four to five weeks. There are bottlenecks occurring in the production process, but the company cannot predict when or where they would occur. If this trend continues, Custom Molds will continue to experience delays, resulting in unhappy customers and decreased sales.
11). Custom molds needs to deliver top quality products at the lowest possible cost. The company must fill customer orders quickly and meet delivery-time promises. Since manufacturers are developing strategic partnerships with parts suppliers, it is crucial for Custom Molds to possess these competitive