Avion Inc. Case Study Questions 1-3

1. What parts of the supply chain are most closely involved with the situation in this case? What is the responsibility of each part in order to maintain a smooth flow of material?

There are three parts of the supply chain most closely involved, including procurement, production and materials management. Procurement is a functional group as well as a functional activity. It performs many activities to ensure it delivers maximum value to the organization. The production group is responsible to product on time with exact quantity. And the materials management in this case is responsible for evaluating and selecting the supplier, and then negotiating the agreement.

2. What initially appears to be the problem? What really is the problem(s) in this case?

 At first, Kevin and Susan, the procurement mangers consider that it is the supplier’s fault. Bill thinks that Foster Technologies lacks some depth at key manufacturing engineering positions so that the delays and quality problems become. Actually, it is the Avion Inc.’s fault. The production group wants material within ten days instead of two weeks which is decided in the contract.  And they also change the final material release quantities right up to the last minute before delivery. Moreover, when the supplier reflect the problem, no one pays attention to it.

3. How easy is it to switch suppliers? What could complicate a firm’s ability to switch to a new supplier?

It is not easy to switch suppliers. It takes months to perform another supplier search with team visits and new tooling could really cost.