Supply Chain Management at Durham International Manufacturing Company
Lucille Jenkins, the CEO for the Durham International Manufacturing Company (DIMCO), believes the company can significantly increase its operating profit be implementing supply chain management. DIMCO manufactures a variety of customer electronic products, from hair dryers to humidifiers to massagers, for the world market.
Lucille believes that DIMCO has already integrated its internal processes and is ready to proceed with external integration. However, she is uncertain as to which direction to take. Should the company work on integrating the suppliers or the distributors first? Currently DIMCO uses 1350 different components and/or raw materials in manufacturing its product line. Those component and raw materials are purchased from approximately 375 different suppliers around the world. In terms of distribution, DIMCO currently sends its finished products to a central warehouse the supplies10 regional distribution centers (RDC); 6 are domestic and 4 are located outside the United States. Each RDC supplies an average of 12 local distributors that each supply an average of 35 retailers.
Lucille is looking for some advice,
Students will read the case and prepare a four to five (4-5) page response to the following:
1. Discuss the current supply chain system at DIMCO.
2. Discuss the advantages that DIMCO can gain by implementing supply chain management.
3. Recommend a strategy for DIMCO related to external suppliers.
4. Recommend a strategy for DIMCO related to external distributors.
5. Analyze the consequences of all your recommendations by identifying who is affected and how.