Read Case Problem 15.1 on page 719 from the book Operations Management: Creating Value Along the Supply Chainand answer the questions given below it.
Just ERP
Just Sofas (JS) had begun the year full of promise with a new facility, restructured manufacturing process, and high hopes for its
new ERP system. Most of the domestic furniture manufacturers had long since gone overseas, but JS believed being close to the
customer gave it a competitive edge. The workers had rallied behind President Ruffner’s idea of guaranteed four-day deliveries on
customer orders. And for a while, the promo had worked. Then orders began pouring in and the scheduling system imploded.
It was for just such a case that Ruffner had sought out an ERP system—to automatically handle customer orders, factory
schedules, and supply chain coordination as demand varied. Ruffner had carefully chosen the ERP software package used by
all the large corporations he knew of, reasoning that if successful companies had chosen this vendor, who was he to choose
otherwise? Implementation had proceeded carefully as well, one might say painstakingly slow, as the IT staff started with the
finance module and worked down through sales and marketing, order fulfillment, production planning, MRP, capacity planning, and finally scheduling. Actually, the scheduling module was still having the kinks worked out and the bill of materials file had not been updated to the current catalog offerings, but everything else seemed to be working fine. Ruffner had included statements about the ERP system in
his earnings reports for the past three quarters, noting that “productivity wanes as new IT system is being implemented,”
“earnings down as company adjusts to new ordering system,” and “scheduling glitch causes backlog of customer orders.”
For this quarter, he was trying to put a more positive spin on “only 5% of orders shipped on time due to incomplete jobs waiting for materials that were not ordered as they should have been.” He supposed a more innocuous “new scheduling system still not up to speed” would suffice. What Ruffner really wondered was if the company could survive another year like this one.
1 . What capabilities of an ERP system would be useful for a
company like Just Sofas?
2 . Describe the environment under which the ERP system
was being implemented. Was due diligence conducted in
choosing the ERP vendor?
3 . Does Ruffner understand the relationships between strategy and operations? Why or why not?
4 . What problems contributed to the disappointing results of
the ERP system? How would you suggest that Just Sofa
proceed next year?
Russell, Roberta S.; Taylor, Bernard W. (2013-12-09). Operations and Supply Chain Management, 8th Edition (Page 719). Wiley. Kindle Edition.
Grading Criteria
This is an essay assignment. Please include a title page, introduction, conclusion, and references. Provide sufficient background information, and clearly explain your responses to each question. Excluding your title page, introduction, conclusion, and reference pages, this assignment should be 2-3 pages.
