November 24, 2013

EQUINOX 4.0 Presents E-Compete

OPEP –The Operations and Supply Chain Club of IIM Raipur proudly presents E-Compete, a simulation game that touches reality.

The game is based on the e-tailing business model wherein the objective is to maximize profit by managing the virtual retail environment. The contestants will unlock orders by solving Operations related problems and get the orders delivered to their respective destinations.

A simulation game of this magnitude that test your theoretical know how and applies it to real life scenarios where demand and supply forecast fluctuate, transportation goes hand in hand with cost management, minimizing inventory is key and time is of the essence. Use your gadgets, solve problems on your laptops, get excel to work your gray cells.


Having your fundamentals clear and being technically sound is great. Furthermore, being able to come up with concrete solutions, alternatives and quick assessments of the situation under pressure and time constraints makes you invaluable. If you think you fit the category, prove it!


The primary motive of any business is to reduce cost and maximize profit!!!

EQUINOX 4.0 Presents Cogitate

Cogitate is a case study event. The competition will be conducted online where the contestants apply their knowledge to provide practical solution to tackle Industrial problems. It will provide a platform to experience real time industry situations involving operations and supply chain. 

The event will be conducted in two stages.

Prelims: Online crossword competition (20*20) Duration 30 minutes

Finals: Case study, Cases will be mailed to the contestants who clear the prelims



Rules of the Game

  1. The event is open to B – school students only
  2. A team should comprise of two members from the same B-School
  3. No changes in the team will be allowed after the registration
  4. A participant can be a part of one team only
  5. If any conflict arises, the decision of the organizing committee shall remain final and binding
  6. In case of any query please contact the event coordinators.
Deadline for Registration - 8th December 2013

Cogitate - Register here
Contact
Vana - +91 8349501058


November 14, 2013

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT - WHIRLPOOL

1. INTRODUCTION

“Logistics is the most challenging of all business processes due to its extreme cross-functional, nature and this challenge increases exponentially in a global environment.”
                                    -J. Paul Dittmannn, Vice-President, Whirlpool 1997 

Whirlpool was founded in 1911 by three brothers - Frederick, Louis and Emory Upton. Their company, then called Upton Machine Corporation (Upton), was set up at St. Josephs, Michigan, USA. In the 1980s, Whirlpool expanded into markets in Europe, Mexico, India, Canada, China, South Africa, Argentina, and Brazil. In 1987, Whirlpool and Sundaram-Clayton of India formed TVS Whirlpool Limited to make compact washers for the Indian market (Whirlpool Corporation acquired majority ownership in 1994). 


Today Whirlpool Corporation is headquartered in Michigan, United States and is the world's leading manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances having an annual sale of more than $19 billion in 2011. There are 68,000 employees and 66 manufacturing and technology research centres around the world. Whirlpool was ranked as No. 1 in Fortune Magazine’s 2011 World’s Most Admired Companies list in the Home Equipment, Furnishings industry. It was also named as 2009 Top Companies for Leaders list, becoming ninth in North America and 15th globally.


2.SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES AT WHIRPOOL

Whirlpool’s supply chain encompasses more than 40 manufacturing facilities supplied from 7,000 different suppliers from every corner of the world. These facilities import as well as export products to separate regions and delivered to about 30,000 retailers worldwide. Besides retailers, the company also delivers products to builders and directly to consumers’ houses. Whirlpool has 2.2 to 2.5 million units in inventory at any given time.

While the Whirlpool brand has long been associated with reliable household appliances, its supply and delivery performance in 2000 was far from being reliable. The unfortunate irony of the situation is that availability was low even while total inventory levels were often too high. These inconsistencies were frustrating to retail partners and customers. It was clear to executive leadership that these supply chain management issues had to be fixed.
Thus some of the issues can be short-listed as:

  • Oversupply in distribution channel. 
  • Slow response to non-standard orders (waiting time of 5 to 10 days for retailers.)
  • Inadequate Inventory for some SKU’s leading to stock outs.
  • Excess inventory which were transferred forcefully to distributors.(Almost 15 temporary buildings for stockpiles) 
  • Lack of communication between ordering and manufacturing  units
  • Large number of forecasting errors  led to increased storage cost (result = locking of working capital)
  • The increasing paperwork caused increase in operational costs and issues with vendors
  • Too many 3PL’s resulted in transactional and adversarial relationships. (Issues included contract variations with no common metric to measure and check distribution)
  • Vendors started demanding to publish all trade item information to the global data pool for product information.