Solution on Business Development & Chain Planning Systems

Question: Discuss about the Innovation and Business Development for Chain Planning Systems. Answer: Supply chain AC Gilbert mainly adheres to the supply chain planning systems (Tayur, Ganeshan and Magazine 2012). They first look into the demands of the customers and depending on that get the raw materials from the suppliers and deliver the products to the customers. Operational systems The operational system AC Gilbert is can be presented in the form of the following flow chart A small group of designers designs the products. The planning department studies the design and plans the raw materials required for the designs. After the evaluation, the raw materials are then ordered for the manufacturing the toys. The manufacturing department takes the orders from the planning teams and makes the purchases for manufacturing the products and for packaging purposes. After the manufacturing and the packaging is done, the products are then stored in the warehouses, ready to be dispatched. Where the operations for the manufacturing team ends, the operation process for the sales team begins (Davenport 2013). The sales team does the promotion and collects the orders from the customers. In this case, the team will learn the taste and preference the customers. The products are then distributed by using contract transport to the retailers. The retailers then sell the products to the customers. Product/service delivery The products of AC Gilbert were designed to last long and hence, they were packaged well for the delivery. During the delivery, the products were packaged so that it is not damaged. Erector set is packaged in metal boxes that are long lasting (Ahi and Searcy 2013). Key result areas (KRAs) The Key Result Areas (KRAs) will be decided by the profit made by the organization. If the customers are satisfied with the services of the organization, chances will be high that they will make more purchase. Thus, the profit of the organization will be the best way to understand the KRAs. Key performance indicators (KPIs) The time takes between the designing phase and the products reaching the retailers to reach to the customers will help in understanding the effectiveness of the supply chain management. The supply chain management of the organization is mainly based on the demand of the customers (Noruzy et al. 2013). Hence, they should be able to make faster delivery and give prompt services to the customers according to their demands Performance reviews It has been seen that the taste and preference of the customers have evolves over the period of time. The children are preferring more realistic toys rather than the dolls (Park and Shaw 2013). The review of the performance of AC Gilbert will be best told by the customers. When the customers will get the new minds of toys from AC Gilbert, they will be happy and their reviews will help in reviewing the work of AC Gilbert. Service level agreements As the users of the products are customers, and in this case the teenagers, they will be the best people to tell about the Service level agreements (SLA). The assessment made by the customers regarding the quality, delivery and the durability of the products will be considered the exact assessment (Meier and OToole 2013). Quality design/manufacturing Until 1963, the dolls were of poor quality and the similar types and designs of clothes were used repeatedly. As the customers now prefer dolls whose clothes can be changed, hence the design of the clothes were changes by keeping in mind the key result areas (Cina 2013). Sales As per the data, in the year 1965, the sales of AC Gilbert rose drastically from 11.4 million is the previous year. Thus, it can be said that the measures implemented at the organization have been helpful for the organization. However, the sad part is that, it again dropped in the year 1966. Profit The pricing of the products at AC Gilbert needs to be done properly as it can be seen that the profit dropped to $2.6 million in the year 1964 from $5.7 million in the year 1963. However, in the year, 1966, the effective measures taken by the organization proved helpful as it rose to $12,872,000. Supply chain performance (delivery) In the year 1964, the cardboard boxes were replaced by the metal boxes for the delivery of the products. The organization understood that the consumers would like to get products that are durable enough (Green et al. 2012). Business growth staff and management performance and/or turnover The new CEO Isaacson dismissed the sales team that was appointed by Jack Wrather. Isaacson altered the spending and channeled the sakes through independent manufacturers. In this way, they were able to acquire more customers and were updated regarding the taste and preference of the customers. Market share In 1950, AC Gilbert became one of the most famous toy companies of the unites states woth the sales of $17 million at a regular basis. Reputation Formerly known as The Mysto Manufacturing Company, AC Gilbert gained reputation in the market for producing the good quality toys that are durable and innovative. Stability The company gained stability in the market by the constant sales with the good quality products. Profit In spite of high-priced products, the sale of the products was stable. Sales The annual sales regularly topped $17 million. Ability to adapt to change Prior to 1960, the company was not adaptive to change. After the death of AC Gilbert senior in the year 1961, there was change in the product line brought by Jack Wrather. Customer service standards AC Gilbert never produced cheap products and along with the price, they kept in mind to give good quality products to the customers. Innovation Alfred Carlton Gilbert made the innovation in the toy industry by inventing the erector engineering set. Employee performance The employees performed well in the organization and it is due to the hard work of the employees, AC Gilbert was able to high quality toys (Budhwar and Debrah 2013). However, with the death of Gilbert senior, the performance went downhill. Production and manufacturing AC Gilbert produced high quality toys but the ranges of products were limited. They believed that they should be able to satisfy the customers first and should not compromise with the products. Internal As AC Gilbert mainly deals with the toys that are used for educational purpose, hence, it is important that the organization consult engineers. The engineers might help in giving ideas to enhance the quality of the products and the latest changes in the technological field that could be incorporated in the products. AC Gilbert needs to hire effective staffs for the manufacturing process. Those staffs will be able to meet up to the demands of the customers. The manufacturing staffs will be able to understand the designs that will be given by the designing department. As the organization has been through a downturn, hence, it is important to gore human resource manager who will be able to tell about the thought process of the employees (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). After the downturn, the employees need to motivation to perform better in the competitive market. External To enhance the business of the organization, marketing consultants could help the organization to perform better. As the demand for the new era of toys is on the rise, hence, the marketing consultants could help AC Gilbert to identify the prospective customers in the field. The need for advertising experts will be less as AC Gilbert is doing an extensive advertising for the organization. References Ahi, P. and Searcy, C., 2013. 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