Introduction
Gulfstream Aerospace is one of leading corporate jet manufacturers in the world. They have been building jets since the late 50’s and continue to create top of the line aircraft which have become the status symbol of success. With their success comes an extensive company infrastructure and supply chain. First, we will discuss how Gulfstream uses the location to maximize the effectiveness of its supply chain. Then we will look at the business case for Gulfstream’s approach to its supply chain, and in particular, does it make sense to have a car follow supplies while it is on the rail system. Finally, we will look at Gulfstream’s to the “just in time” manufacturing and its strategic approach to choosing locations.
Location
Gulfstream has created over 1500 jets since 1958 when it was founded. During this time they have continued to refine its supply chain and now have it worked out to an art. One of its key concepts is the location of the supply chain. Gulfstream manufacturing headquarters is located in Savannah, GA, which is the first key to supply chain puzzle. Because of its location on the east coast it allows Gulfstream access to sea, air, and land. Gulfstream keeps cost low by contracting out the construction of certain parts of its aircraft and having them sent to Savannah. Gulfstream has suppliers in Holland, Germany, the U.S. and Mexico. The tail sections and floors of the Gulfstream G500 and G550 are made in Holland (Thuermer, 2004). These parts once assembled are then shipped to Amsterdam and then to U.S. to Savannah. For this reason, international shipping access is required. Once they arrive in the states, they are then trucked to the assembly plant on oversized truck loads. This short distance from the port to the plant is key to the success of the chain. It would require a lot of coordination to get these pieces to travel long distances. The engines are flown in from Germany to Atlanta International Airport where they are trucked to the plant in Savannah. Finally, the wings are built in Texas, and then shipped via railway to Savannah. All these connections require their final destination to be centrally located to ports where these parts can be delivered close.
Relationship with Suppliers
Gulfstream has a unique relationship with its suppliers.
This is a major plus for the company since their value chain is similar to its competitors. The design is based on the raw material network. This network is made up of both Natural and Synthetic Fibers. Production networks, talking about apparel manufacturers, are the focus of the marketing stage. An example of this in North America would be garment factories in the United States using subcontractors, both domestically and Caribbean based. While in Asia, an example would be Asian garment contractors with contractors, both domestically and overseas. The company secures clients by focusing on export networks. These networks are mainly concerned with retail outlets with brand name apparel along with buying offices around the world and trading companies. Distribution tends to concentrate on retail outlets such as department stores, specialty stores, factory outlets, and mail
A switch from premium overnight services to lower – margin deferred services and ground delivery services is an advantage to Airborne Express. With existing assets including trucks, tracking systems, regional hubs and sorting facilities, they only need minor initial investments to develop fully these kinds of services. They should use these assets wisely and effectively.
In considering the global supply chain, risks to the performance of the supply of parts into a manufacturing plant or finished product out to the customers must be considered. All the same risks that exist to a domestic supply chain, such as forecasting issues, new product development cycles, weather and labor disruptions exist in the global chain with additional risks to
One thing connecting all parts of local to national business, effected by billions of people each day and managed by thousands of businesses individually or together, the supply chain is an effective and much needed tool is our enterprises today. Compared to the business practices in the 90s and earlier back through time, the average business model today is very complex and intertwined with other businesses. No more are the days businesses could run off of a poster or simple advertisement in the community, now the business of social media and the internet are essential to running any establishment and earning money. A very integrated business is more than just advertisement and sales though, the enterprise needs coordination and it will decide to take part in information sharing within the supply chain management it will run. The supply chain
Ford Motor Company Supply Chain Strategy. Background In 1913, Henry Ford revolutionized product manufacturing by introducing the first assembly line to the automotive industry. Ford’s hallmark of achievement proved to be a key achievement for the motor company as the low cost of the Model T attracted a broader, new range of prospective car-owners. However, after many decades of success, customers have become harder to find.
It is suggested for any organization to review, reassess any existing supply chain management or any delivery techniques, before developing a new supply chain method so that any exposure to high risk of failure is reduced. Somerset as a company taken advantage of outsourcing and transferred it product manufacturing to China leveraging low cost labor and raw material. The labor cost and other cheap material reduce Somerset overhead cost, but there is always the risk of not delivering product on time due to the foreign country political climate, change in tax and tariff and local
Often lessors buy the planes and subsequently lease them to the respective airlines. Furthermore, the infrastructures are primarily established according to the precise needs of home airlines (BIEGER & WITTMER, 2011, p. 61-64). As an example, the airport of Zurich strongly adapted needs of Swissair when expanding its own infrastructure. Operations and outbound logistics cannot clearly be distinguished in the case of an airline business, since it is a service industry of intangible output. The “production” of the service and the order processing can be seen together as providing the transport to the desired destination of customers. Moreover, the added value is very much dependant on safety, service quality and comfort. Marketing and sales include every way of promotion and indeed, stipulating sales channels in pursuance of attracting new customers. As already alluded above, progressing technology in online distribution and increasing price competition caused by market liberalization force airlines to lay much more weight on the marketing and sales activities. The core differentiation possibility remains in quality of on-board service and additional services at
“It was over a period of several years, Harley-Davidson reduced its number of suppliers from 4000 to fewer than 350” (Schneider, 2009), despite this reduction, it still has a significant spread of its operations. For a company incorporating such a supply chain in its sales of motorcycles and related product yearly, reducing or maintaining costs is very important. In such a situation the need to find more efficient ways to conduct the various aspects of the business in its supply chain is ongoing.
Building an effective global supply chain involves integrating and coordinating common materials, processes, designs, technologies and suppliers across worldwide buying, design and operating locations (Trent, 2005). Managing global supply chain poses many challenges which will be examined including cultural differences, language, regional and governmental laws and regulations, and design and integration of global information infrastructure (GII). Additionally, risk assessment of possible disruptions in the supply chain will also be reviewed.
Airbus produces approximately half of the world’s jet airlines. Porter stated that aircraft suppliers have more profit compared to airlines; therefore, we decided to find out what kind of business strategies help the company excel, particularly Airbus is competing with Boeing. On the other side, business strategies will support the company’s future design processes in the industry and technology needs. Airbus does not only manufacture passenger jets, they also have military and aerospace projects with its parent company. These details might be interesting to learn more about the jet airline industry.
One of the business 's main power is the fact that it is truly global has a physical presence in most corners of the world. Manufacturing is still primarily undertaking in Japan, although supply networks exist worldwide.
The transportation & logistics industry is a form of industry that keeps people and products on the move, it includes airlines and airports, shipping companies, logistics service providers and other transportation companies. That’s why it is considered the backbone of modern global supply chains. In a place like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that has diverse geography with a dry desert and great temperature extremes and a large area of about 2.1 million square km, a transportation & logistics industry is a necessity. Imagine you need to move from one city to another (of course it will be so hard to cross large areas of empty deserts) you have only two options to transfer from one to another city; the first option is to drive and the second option is to fly and ship your car via a car transport carrier. The harsh climate in Saudi Arabia makes people to prefer using the second option, this cause the market of transport market to enlarge. Albassami International Group is one of the biggest companies established to satisfy those needs. It is considered one of the biggest companies specialized in vehicle transportation in the Middle East. The philosophy of the company is to serve the needs of the clients over the span of thirty two years, throughout which they constantly had an eye to the future by evaluating the most appropriate ways in which to make transporting clients’ vehicles via the best and safest answer. They operate round the clock to serve clients at all times.
Supply chain management (SCM), as a type of management information system (MIS) is commonly associated with logistics management. Oriade & Cameron (2016) explained that SCM is not exatcly the same as logistics management. The authors clarified that SCM “builds upon the ‘single-plan’ framework of logistics” involving the coordination of business operations and processes from suppliers of goods and services to customers. In the commercial airline industry, this means that SCM includes several elements such as “industry value chain, from upstream suppliers, through sub-assembly manufacturers, final manufacturers, distributors and retailers to the end customers” (Oriade & Cameron, 2016). A specific example is the linkage
Potato chips also called as potato crisps were invented in the year 1853 by Native American George Crum. The story behind the invention goes like this. George was employed as a chef at an elegant resort in Saratoga Springs, New York. One dinner guest felt George’s French fries too thick for his liking and rejected the order. In order to rile the guest Crum decided to make fries too thin and crisp. But seeing the browned, paper thin fries the guest was overjoyed and other guest present there also started requesting Crum’s potato chips. There after potato chips began to appear on the menu as Saratoga chips, a house specialty (John E. Harmon). From then on potato chips went on to capture the snack market.
Expectation that top management in companies – both in private and public sector – places on supply is growing exponentially, mainly because of the permanent drive to lower cost and retain competitive advantages on the market, but also to create additional value. Research has shown that the perception of impact of supply chains on the results of businesses will grow in the future, taking a more prominent role in company structures over time.