The purpose of the Discussion Board is to allow students to learn through sharing ideas and experiences as they relate to course content and the DB question. Because it is not possible to engage in two-way dialogue after a conversation has ended, no posts to the DB will be accepted after the end of each unit.

Your boss has asked you to analyze the quality issues facing your supply chain operations. Not all questions need to be answered, but your response should be well thought out and within the deliverable length.

Benchmarking Against      which companies will you benchmark? What      parameters will you attempt to benchmark? How will      you obtain information on those (competitor) companies? Will you      rely on public reports and documents such as Annual Reports and SEC filings,      or will you need to enlist the services of a consulting/business      intelligence organization? Will you      attempt to benchmark against only companies in your industry or look at      world-class companies in other industries? If you look      at companies in other industries, how will you adjust/account for the      difference in industries? 

Change Management Do you have      the (internal) resources to lead/control the changes that will be needed? Do you have      the right personnel now, or will you need to replace/reassign some people? Do you have      the (internal) resources to conduct the training that will be required, or      will you need to hire a training organization? If you      hire, what are the characteristics of the organization for which you will      be looking? Who will be      responsible for managing the corporate/divisional change? What is the      time frame for achieving the change? Who will      define the change that needs to be made? Is there a      budget for the process? If so, how much? Is the budget adequate for the      anticipated man hours that will be expended? How will      your organization recognize when the change process is complete? What is      your organization’s definition of success? 

Performance Measurement  What are      the key performance measurements that best define/represent the current performance      level?  Inventory       turns, cost per transaction/shipment, labor efficiency (dollars of output       divided by man hours), machine efficiency (dollars of input divided by       hours of operation), equipment uptime, transportation costs, raw material       costs, or overhead? 

You should include comments and perspectives from both Juran and Deming. 

To review the company scenario, click here. 

Grading   Criteria

%   of grade for this assignment

What   are the key performance measurements that best define/represent the current   performance level? 

20%

Benchmarking   issues addressed

20%

Chain   Management Issues addressed

20%

Response   to peer posts

35%

APA   citation and references

5%

Please refer to the following multimedia course materials: