Swisher Systems Case Study
Summary Swisher Systems Corporation (SSC) is an industrial heating company that was established in 1949 (W.C. Benton, 2010). SSC is an innovator of flexible heating products, particularly with its knit and braided heating element. The heating element consists of a multi-stranded resistance wire which is knit and braided with fiberglass and is the center technology for most of all the Swisher Systems’ products. Swisher is also known in the heating industry as being the highest quality flexible heat supplier which manufactures control devices and heating cable. SSC holds several patents that support the company in sustaining market share. The patented grounded heating element provides extra safety that their competitors heating element cannot provide. Mike Watkins is the director of purchasing for Swisher Systems Corporation and is the sole purchaser of procuring all materials for the company. Mike has over thirty five years of industrial purchasing experience with some of that experience gained prior to joining Swisher Systems Corporation. Bill Simpson from engineering has questioned Mike on the prices of various capacitors that he uses on his product. Mike has tried to explain to Bill the pricing strategy with the suppliers and how his responsibility is to look at the overall budget and not just one area.
Analysis
After reading through the case study for Swisher System Corporation, I am aware that all SSC products are solutions to industrial heating applications. SSC also manufactures fifty percent standard products and fifty percent custom orders. Their custom products can be used for any industry that would require heating products. A few examples of industries that these could be used for would be medical, food processing, petrochemical and others. The largest contributor of SSC’s sales is the cloth heating jacket; which is more expensive compared to their competitors. The competitor’s product is a silicone
Analysis
After reading through the case study for Swisher System Corporation, I am aware that all SSC products are solutions to industrial heating applications. SSC also manufactures fifty percent standard products and fifty percent custom orders. Their custom products can be used for any industry that would require heating products. A few examples of industries that these could be used for would be medical, food processing, petrochemical and others. The largest contributor of SSC’s sales is the cloth heating jacket; which is more expensive compared to their competitors. The competitor’s product is a silicone
References: W.C. Benton, J. (2010). Purchasing and Supply Chain Management (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.