The CEO has asked your boss (Divisional VP) how Six Sigma may apply to your organization. She evidently spoke to one of her CEO peers and is now intrigued by the concept of DFSS (Design for Six Sigma). 

Group portion: Go to the Small Group Discussion Board and thoroughly discuss and come to consensus on the following:  How is DFSS      applicable to various areas in your organization? Where do      you see DFSS making the biggest impact? How would      DFSS be applied to your supply chain operations? 

Summarize the group’s consensus view.
 

Please add your file.

To review the company scenario, click here. 

Individual portion:  Write      a 1 page recommendation to succinctly propose a plan for implementing      DFSS within your supply chain organization. Research a      company that has implemented DFSS and in 2-3 pages describe how the      company used DFSS. Did it benefit the company? Did it hurt the company? 

  

Grading   Criteria

%   of grade for this assignment

 

Participation   in group discussion portion.

20%

 

The   groups view is summarized.

20%

 

Write   a 1 page recommendation to succinctly propose a plan for implementing DFSS   within your supply chain organization.

20%

 

Research   and address questions presented about a company that has implemented   DFSS

20%

 

At   least three noncourse related sources are used with proper APA citation and   references

10%

 

The   sentences are skillfully constructed, effective, and varied. Words used are   vivid, accurate, and original. The writing is without serious flaws in   grammar or mechanics. APA conventions are consistently followed.

10%

You are the Operations Manager for a $50,000,000 (sales) subsidiary of a $750,000,000

corporation. You report to the Divisional Vice President. Your division produces industrial

products that are used in the construction, maintenance, transportation, and equipment

manufacturing industries. The other two divisions in your corporation serve the automotive and

electronics industries. A few products are cross-marketed.

Your division is currently number three in your market place. The number one firm has about

60% of the market, the number two firm has about 25% of the market, and you have about 15%

of the market.

Your products are often used in human safety applications, so product quality is paramount.

Neither you nor your competitors have a competitive quality advantage, nor a distinct production

cost advantage. Being number three in the market place has meant that your division must excel

in customer service and delivery reliability.

Over 90% of your sales come through manufacturing representatives to regional distributors who

hold inventory of your most popular products in limited quantities. To keep your distributors loyal,

your company works very hard on customer service.

Your division currently has about 4,000 products in your catalog. About 1,200 items are “in-stock”

(MTS, Make-to-Stock) items. The remaining 2,800 items are “non-stock” items that can be

considered to be Make-To-Order (MTO). The MTO items are not stocked but are manufactured

if, and only if, an order for them is received.

Your division promises to ship all “in-stock” items within 24 hours of receiving the order. If the

order is received by noon, the order is shipped that day. Because most of your orders are small

and are delivered to diverse addresses, UPS is the preferred shipping mode.

In contrast, your two sister divisions operate on a much longer lead-time and ship in

comparatively larger quantities. They tend to operate much more in the MTO mode and do not

offer the fast 24-hour shipping responses that your division does.

The corporate headquarters are in St. Louis, Missouri, where the company was founded in the

1910s. You are located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where manufacturing operations were

moved in the 1950s to exploit the lower labor costs. The corporate North American Warehouse

(NAW) is located in a western suburb of St. Louis to be near the St. Louis airport. Virtually all

shipments to customers are made from the NAW. Several years ago, to stay competitive,

production operations started to shift from the Cape Girardeau location to a plant in Mexico. The

shift to Mexico has been successful overall, but the plant does not always deliver what is needed

and is sometimes late in delivering parts to the NAW.

The corporation installed SAP several years ago. You have been far too busy to thoroughly

investigate all of the details, but everyone in the organization seems to be satisfied at some level

with the system.

Because you are the STO (Senior Technical Officer) of your division, you also manage the client

support group (located near the St. Louis airport) which consults with clients on selecting which

products to purchase and offers consulting/project management services for installing your

products. Your direct reports include the Plant Manager in Cape Girardeau, the Plant Manager in

Mexico, the Divisional Supply Chain Manager, the Manager of Product Quality Control, and the

Divisional Customer Support Manager. Your chief peers are the Director of Marketing and the

Manager of the Divisional Headquarters staff. Order entry reports to the Director of Marketing.

Purchasing, Accounting, Finance, HR, and IT functions are handled at the corporate level. The

manager of the NAW formally reports to the VP of the automotive division, but he is tasked to

serve all three divisions equitably.

Several months ago, a new CEO took the reigns of your parent company. She is looking to

improve profits, and is tasking all three divisions to reduce costs. For your division, she is

particularly interested in reducing inventory while maintaining (improving) current customer

service levels. She also questions whether having the Customer Support staff centrally located in

St. Louis is really the best way (in terms of cost and service) to service your customers.

Your boss, the Divisional VP, has asked you to put together an analysis of your division’s

operations and to produce a plan to improve operations with an eye to reducing costs.