Mastertag: a Case Study

Point of view

Supply chain manager He ensures that their supply chain is efficient and cost-effective. A supply chain is the collection of steps that a company takes to transform raw components into the final product. Typically, supply chain managers are responsible in comprising the five stages of supply chain management: plan, develop, make, deliver, and return.

Statement of the problem

How should the management establish an efficient solution in producing exact number of tags that will be needed to meet and achieve the customer’s satisfaction and to avoid the shortage and excessive production of the plant tags?

Objectives

• To come up with a better solution for a achieving a match between supply of the producers and the demand of the consumers
• To maintain and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the company
• To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the supply chain management system of MasterTag
• To implement a new style in producing tags that would enhance positive outcome to the company
• To formulate action based on the chosen solution for the problem

Areas of consideration

• The demand of the consumers (seed companies) didn’t match the supply of the company because its supply chain is not effective
• The company expects possible crop failures of the seed companies
• The management of MasterTag planned to introduce new items of seed companies

Alternative courses of action

Set a new supply chain management system by making a fairly large batch which would be produced and shipped directly to the growers instead of the seed companies.

And later, when the grower results became available, a second batch would be produced using information from growers on how many additional tags are needed. The second batch would then be made and shipped to the growers.

Pros

• There will be an assurance of exact numbers of plant tags.
• They will not end up with millions of leftover tags.

Cons

• Time consuming process. There is a lot of process to take.
• Deal and find a better consumer (seed companies) that will match the company’s supply.

Look for a company that can satisfy the number of products of the supplier (MasterTag)

Recommendation

Based on the alternative courses of action, we think that the best alternative course is to set a new supply chain management system by making a fairly large batch which would be produced and shipped directly to the growers instead of the seed companies.

And later, when the grower results became available, a second batch would be produced using information from growers on how many additional tags are needed. The second batch would then be made and shipped to the growers. In this case, although the action is said to be time consuming process, the company will achieve the consumer’s satisfaction because eventually, the supply and the demand will meet. The problem regarding the leftover and unused tags will be lessening.

At the same time, the chosen action achieved organization’s established objectives and deliver effective performance not only for the company but also to the consumers. We consider the importance of supply chain management system which involves coordinating and integrating flows in both within and among companies. It is said that the ultimate goal of any effective supply chain management system is to reduce inventory (which is the main problem in this case study).