Participation Discussion Questions - Essay Example

According to Sward (2006) a technology should only be implemented if it adds value to the company. Based on this assumption any process improvement while marginal benefits do not exceed its marginal cost should be not be considered. I like your company’s use of the cycle counting method. Increasing the physical inventory counting frequency increases the chances of detecting unproductive activities such as employee theft. Interacting with the customers and gaining feedback from them is a great way to obtain valuable information.

Running out of inventory is a nightmare. A few years ago I worked for a manufacturing company. We were developing a new product. The bill of materials included a rare plastic that was hard to locate anywhere globally. We spend six months looking for a suitable supplier that would have a constant supply of the raw material. The project was shut down because a risk management analysis determined that stockouts of the material would occur that would shut down the production line. One of the consequences of a stockout is loss of revenues (Answers, 2009).

The scenario you mentioned about the company you work for goes against traditional business wisdom. Most people believe that having a lower inventory count and the implementation of inventory systems such as JIT are the optimum way to run a business. Every industry has its peculiarities and internal knowledge of its behavior is needed in order to make good business decisions. The Comcast product utilizes a customization strategy in order to adapt the specifications based on the level of technological advancement of the region.

As the market requirements of different regions change the company could transfer inventory from one region to another. If an inventory model becomes obsolete in one region the company can still use that inventory to supply other locations. Adaptability and flexibility are two good attributes of a production