Task Details: After reading the case study on page 80 of the textbook, prepare a XXXXXXXXXX% word report (executive summary, table of contents body, conclusions and recommendations) analysing the...

Financial Analysis of BHP Billiton
August 16, 2019
Case Study-The Medical Devices Company
Executive Summary
The report deals with the case study on MDC which caters to high end medical equipment with starting price of $2000. The company has been facing lot of issues like changes in customer demands patterns whereby they have been demanding availability of various variants to meet their requirements and competitors already catering to such demands, inventory obsolescence and build up and also stock out of various products which requires dispatch of the product from either of its two factories. The various logistics management strategies followed and implemented successfully by large corporates have been discussed like lean manufacturing, just in time inventory management system, mass customization, maintaining agile supply chains, better inventory management through sharing of production plans and strategies with vendors, partnering with vendors in inventory management through risk pooling, also postponing the production of finished goods through production design or process changes, exploring the possibility of reducing the partners in supply chain, carefully analyzing the cu
ent warehouses and exploring the possibility of eliminating few to get cost reduction through reduced inventory holding requirement. After evaluating various logistic management techniques it is recommended that MDC should adopt a mature outlook towards management of supply chain functions which should be flexible enough to adopt to changes in consumer demand pattern. For products whose demand can be assessed with certainty the company should adopt lean manufacturing techniques. For products which are more demand driven and there is sudden surge in demand, the company must adopt an agile supply chain. In times when the consumers are demanding customization of products and services, it is imperative for the company to cater to the consumer demands else the company loses its customers to competition. The company should consideration integration or centralization of its inventory holding in order to minimize inventory holding and maintaining minimum safety stock at various godowns. Using common components in its product can also be considered for reducing the need of maintaining stock of different raw materials. Thus, making an assessment of present supply system and comparing it with evolving and estimated trends would enable the company in effectively managing its logistics.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary    2
Introduction    4
a. definition of logistic management    4
. logistic goals and strategies    4
Issues faced by the company    4
Logistic Management Strategies that enable companies to become successful    5
a. Just in Time inventory    5
. Lean Manufacturing    5
c. Mass Customization or focused manufacturing and building to order    6
d. Agile Supply chains    6
e. Substitution of inventory with information or Full visibility and vendor partnership    7
f. Pooling Risks    7
g. reduction in numbers of supply chain partners    8
h. proper selection of location of warehouse    8
Conclusion and recommendations    8
References    10
Introduction
a. definition of logistic management
Logistics management has been defined as the art and science of procuring, manufacturing and distributing materials and products from suppliers to its end users in most effective manner which implies material availability at appropriate time, in appropriate quantities and at appropriate prices. (AIMS, n.d.). Thus logistic management involves effective integration of various functions like order processing, material handling, manufacturing, warehousing, and transportation. Thus, Logistic management enables businesses to provide improved services to customers by reducing the delivery times and delivering quality products and services.
. logistic goals and strategies
The most important function of logistics is customer satisfaction which is aimed to be achieved through the following means
1. Fast response to changes in customer orders and market demands
2. Inventory minimization for cost reduction
3. Variation in logistic services to be reduced
4. Grouping shipment to minimize transportation cost through combined product transportation
5. Striving for continuous improvement in product and service quality.
Logistic management encompasses four distinct areas namely supply management, material movement and distribution management, Production management and reverse logistics which handles returns.
Issues faced by the company
MDC is in the business of manufacturing and distributing high end medical devices used in surgery in hospitals. The company has strong presence across Europe and has two manufacturing plants, 15 warehouses acting as hubs which supply to 40 other warehouses located near u
an centers from which the medical representative and distribution agents draw the inventory.
MDC has been facing several logistic management issues which have been discussed as below
a) Changes in customer demand pattern- Improvement in medical technologies and availability of advanced products is seen as a...