SCM1001- Group Case Study-1 Instructions Teamwork: This assignment is to be comp

SCM1001- Group Case Study-1
Instructions
Teamwork: This assignment is to be completed as a team with your group members.
Textbook Readings: To complete the assignment, you should use course materials (Chapter-1
and 2 of the textbook).
Academic integrity policy: Follow the academic integrity policy of Cambrian college. Provide
proper acknowledgment to the sources of the material on the referencing (last) page.
Approach: Many case study questions are fairly open-ended, with no single correct answer.
Your response should include the reasons for your approach. You may make suitable
assumptions if you think some pertinent information is missing in the case study. Assumptions
made should be mentioned in your response.
Length: Assignment length should be around 5 to 6 pages, excluding the cover and last pages
(for referencing/ bibliography). Write the student names on the cover page.
Weightage: Assignment weightage is 15% of your total marks.
Format and Submission: Compile your answers in a Microsoft Word file. One student from the
group shall submit the file to the assignment submission folder named “Group Case Study-1
(15%),” available in the Moodle section called “Assessments.”
Due date: The due date for submission is 24 September 2023 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. A
three-day grace period is applicable, with a 10% reduction in marks for each day of delay; a
maximum of 3 days of delay attracts a 30% reduction (if submitted on 27 September 2023). The
submission folder will close on 24-September-2023, and any group/ student with pending
submission shall receive zero marks.
Assignment
Review the enclosed case study. You will then answer the following questions:
1. Considering the operating environment described in chapter-1 of the textbook, how would
you explain the current business environment for Williams 3D Printers?
2. Considering the five primary manufacturing strategies defined in chapter-1 of the textbook,
which manufacturing strategy is used by Williams 3D Printers?
3. Describe the key issues and the problems involved in the business situation presented in
the case study.
4. What’s the central issue/ problem involved? Referring to the textbook chapter-2, what level
of planning is needed to address the main issue/ problem?
5. List and explain the two possible high-level approaches to dealing with the situation. List the
pros and cons of each approach. (Hint: Growth option to expand the capacity to 40 printers,
and the alternative approach to maintaining their current capacity and size).
6. Refer to the chapter-1 section, “Conflicts in Traditional Systems.” Do you think that each
approach from your response to question number 5 shall be equally supported by John,
Pamela, and Mary? If not, then for each approach, who will support, and who might resist?
Why?
7. Which approach will your group recommend to the management? Justify with reasons.
Assignment Rubric
Less than 60% 60-80% 80% or more Weighting
Percentage
Completeness
(Details,
thoroughness of
description)
• Lack of detail
makes the
submission
challenging to
understand.
• Sufficient
level of
detail to help
the
instructor
understand.
• Highly
detailed work. 40
Content • Insufficiently
relates the
case to the
course content.
• Content lacks
clarity/ logic.
• Sufficiently
relates the
case to the
course
content.
• Good and
clear
content.
• The
assignment is
in complete
alignment with
the course
content.
• Outstanding
content.
40
Professionalism • Numerous
spelling and/or
grammatical
mistakes.
• Poor sentence
structure.
• No referencing.
• Only a few
spelling and
grammatical
errors.
• Good
sentence
structure.
• Referencing
included.
• Less than five
spelling and
grammar
errors
• Excellent
sentence
structure.
• Referencing
included.
20
Williams 3D Printers
The Williams 3D printer company was experiencing growing pains early in 2015. Jasper
Williams had developed his own unique design for making a 3D printer with this relatively new
technology that was growing fairly rapidly in interest and in competitors. He had started by using
his engineering skills as an individual inventor, but with some borrowed money he was able to
set up a small production facility. His sales the first year were modest, as he made and sold only
five printers. Now that he had been in the business for three years, he noticed that near the end
of his fiscal year, he was likely to sell more than 20 units. He only had three other people on his
management staff: John Johnson, the financial officer, Pamela Lopez, the production manager,
and Mary Andrews, the marketing and sales manager. The following conversation took place
during their most recent monthly planning meeting, where the key item on the agenda was to
look at plans for the next fiscal year:
JASPER: “Mary, I think you mentioned that we are gaining a good reputation in a market that is
growing rapidly, given that it is in the early stages of the life cycle. What do you think that means
for sales this coming year?”
MARY: “I think our good reputation is going to be a real plus. Not only do several of our original
customers plan on buying another printer from us, but they have also told other potential
customers that they like our design, and some of those potential customers are likely to buy as
well. I think it is very likely that we could double our sales next year to possibly 40 or more
printers.”
PAMELA: “We need to talk about that—perhaps you should hold back on making sales like that.
We are already finding it tough to deliver on promises for this year. We have had a couple of
late orders this year, and the only reason we didn’t have more late orders was that our workers
agreed to work on some weekends. Problem is, I don’t know how agreeable they will be to that
next year. While they like the extra money, they all have families and don’t want to spend that
much time away from home.”
MARY: “Look, Pamela, we have worked hard to get the good reputation to increase our sales.
What good does it do if we can’t meet the needs of people who want to buy from us? Last I
knew, we were in business to make sales and therefore make money. We have a good profit
margin on the printers that should make the company very profitable.”
PAMELA: “Well the only way we can really expand to sell and make 40 units next year is to hire
a lot more people. We possibly could hire a second shift, but our workers are skilled people who
are making most of these printers in a somewhat unique design based on the specific needs of
the customer. Skilled people like that often have several options as to where to work, and I am
pretty sure most would not like to work a second shift where they could not spend evenings with
their families. We could try to double the number of workers on the regular day shift, but that
would mean duplicating all the current equipment as well. Also, while today we probably have
the space in our facility to fit duplicate equipment, if we grow more the following year we will
also have to expand our space requirements.”
At this point John Johnson, the financial manager, had to break into the conversation:
JOHN: “We need to think long and hard about all this. After three years we are finally looking a
little better financially, but adding a whole lot more people and equipment is going to cost us a
lot. Also, you have to keep in mind that the printers have a pretty long lead time to produce,
given that each customer specifies at least some unique aspect of design based on their
individual needs, and also it takes a fair amount of time to build them. That means we get to see
the money from the sale only after many weeks after the order is placed, but in the meantime
we have to obtain materials and pay workers for today’s new -orders—which are larger in
number in this growing market we have. This implies that even though the profit per unit is good,
we have a struggle with cash flow. Pamela, what about adding just one or two people as the
sales grow, and then add some more later in the year as the sales continue to grow?”
PAMELA: “I don’t see how that can help. Adding a duplicate person without additional
equipment for them to work with makes no sense, and even if they could do the work, the other
people in areas we don’t add would still have a lot more work to do without the time to do it.”
JOHN: “Well we might be able to get another loan to help, but do we really want to do that just
at the point we are starting to show some bottom-line profit?”
JASPER: “Okay, I understand each of your perspectives, but arguing back and forth doesn’t
help. We need to figure out something to do that we can all agree on. Let’s get to work.”
Source: Chapman, S.N., Arnold, J.R.T., Gatewood, A.K., & Clive, L.M. (2017). Introduction to Materials Management
(9th ed.). Pearson.