Considering the higher industry average, this is a worrying trend. The return on total assets is often a good measure of how effective an entity's management is when it comes to the generation of profits using the assets of the firm (Graham, Smart, and Megginson, 2009)
In this sense, it came to place more emphasis on the generation of organizational strength by focusing on three specific channels -- customer satisfaction, innovation and product quality. "Forecasting the needs of the American consumer and seeking to fill those needs through a consistent program of product innovation, quality manufacturing and aggressive marketing has been the objective of National Presto Industries for over 100 years, and it will continue to be in the years ahead" (Website of National Presto Industries, 2011)
The industry was therefore left to be controlled by the market where by the rates were market driven. Several restrictions were lifted and the industry has since become a free market where the rates and the routes are controlled by the individual airline companies which has increased competition in the industry leading to price reduction (Avjobs, 2012)
The terrorist attacks which targeted planes shook the industry and as a result certain routes had to be abolished by the carriers as a security measure to ensure safety standards and at the same time they increased security in the industry to gain back the public's confidence. Technology has been used and screening measures for both cargo and passengers have been enhanced which has seen the industry's profitability increase over the years (Department of Homeland Security, 2012)
Deregulation has led to growth in air travel where it has attracted many investors whereby the world has been interconnected making air travel the most efficient which has increased international business between different economies. Deregulation has enabled the airline companies to remain operational despite the rising cost of fuel whereby the individual companies are able to hedge for fuel and remain profitable for a period of time despite the skyrocketing fuel prices which wouldn't have been the case were the industry still regulated (GAO, 2006)
The industry is prone to terrorist attack after the 9/11 therefore the emergency funding that was introduced as part of the government's effort to combat terrorism by improving on the homeland security was a boost to the industry. The fund was to be channeled on the war against terrorism as to target and eliminate terrorists and make airline safe (Atef Ghobrial & Wes a. Irvin, 2004)
This leaves the company in a vulnerable situation, where they are left open to higher price demands and increased costs to acquire the needed stock. Not recognizing inventory shortages on time can dramatically cut into company profits (Brinlee 2012)
As such, it is clear that the company may be suffering from in increased costs due to a lower bargaining position with only a few vendors. This limited number of vendors also places the company in danger of not being able to meet their own customer orders, as vendor delivery takes a dangerous role in impacting sales revenue (Connerly, 2003)
There are a number of recommendations that would improve profits from a supply chain management perspective. Working only with a few numbers of vendors places a company in danger of being at the whim of these vendor's demands (Stevenson 2011)
The company operates using the Six Sigma philosophy, so that will guide the implementation plan. The Six Sigma implementation process consists of eight steps -- recognize, define, measure, analyze, improve, control, standardize and integrate (Long, n
Those who lead the tobacco industry believe the smoking bans have not caused a material reduction in consumption while those who favor the legislative measures believe that if nothing else it is maintaining a level of safety for those who choose not to smoke by removing their exposure to second hand smoke. HOW the REGULATIONS CAME ABOUT While the tobacco industry does have a difficult time swimming upstream against all of the various government regulations placed in its path there the industry as a whole has to walk a thin line between supporting those regulations and fighting against them in the face of evidence that their product is harmful (Tobacco, Federal Regulation of (http://www
Despite the wide variation in their business models, the manufacturing processes for the aerospace, electronics, energy and mining, industrial markets, mining and transportation are all orchestrated through a common demand management platform. The ITT demand management platform is predicated on the Demand Driven Supply Network (DDSN) that continues to be instrumental in the transformational of complex manufacturing enterprises (Barrett, 2007)
This transition in financial performance is attributable to several factors incouding better coordination, collaboration and integration of suppliers into their manufacturing operations, more efficient use of existing manufacturing assets, and greater use of analytics and IT systems to streamline complex processes (ITT Investor Relations, 2012). ITT's diversified operations include engineer-to-order, configure-to-order and build-to-order production strategies that have a multiplicative effect on the complexity and extent of collaboration with suppliers (Boon-itt, Himangshu, 2006)
In 2011 the company chose to adopt a policy of implementing supply chain improvements within 90 days and actively charting their overall contribution to company performance (Minett, 2001). From this starting point ITT also began to measure the effects of logistics through the Hierarchy of Supply Chain Metrics as defined by AMR Research (now Gartner) (Hofman, 2004)
This progression began eleven years ago when the company chose to increase the accuracy and speed of response to supply chain conditions and market opportunities. In 2011 the company chose to adopt a policy of implementing supply chain improvements within 90 days and actively charting their overall contribution to company performance (Minett, 2001)
The objective of integrating Six Sigma programs with supply chain management strategies is to significantly reduce operating experiences by increasing product and process quality while alleviating unnecessary costs. Shaw Industries has been effective in the integration of Six Sigma, supply chain and reverse logistics processes as part of their intensive commitment to sustainability as well (Rondinelli, Berry, 1998)
They have in fact invested in an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to specifically manage the integration of disconnected, broken PMO-based processes over time. This strategy of relying on the distributed order management, logistics and manufacturing execution system functional strengths of an ERP system to serve as the catalyst for PMO integration is common (Pellegrinelli, Garagna, 2009)
The objective of integrating Six Sigma programs with supply chain management strategies is to significantly reduce operating experiences by increasing product and process quality while alleviating unnecessary costs. Shaw Industries has been effective in the integration of Six Sigma, supply chain and reverse logistics processes as part of their intensive commitment to sustainability as well (Rondinelli, Berry, 1998)
Yield optimization is a lean manufacturing strategy that seeks to minimize wasted raw materials used in the production process while at the same time ensuring the highest quality of production is attained (Mukhopadhyay, Ray, 2006). Six Sigma is used in the context of creating an aggregate score of yield optimization based on process efficiency (Searcy, 2009)
Figure 1, Production Process for Mill-based Manufacturing, illustrates the a Mill-based production process applicable to carpeting, flooring, steel (Abdulmalek, Rajgopal, 2007), and textiles (Mukhopadhyay, Ray, 2006). Figure 1: Production Process for Mill-based Manufacturing Sources: (Mukhopadhyay, Ray, 2006) (Abdulmalek, Rajgopal, 2007) (Shah, Chandrasekaran, Linderman, 2008) Yield optimization is critically important in the Order/Stock process workflow to the far right of Figure 1