Kristen Langdon, the sales manager at a large bicycle manufacturer, has secured an order from a major department store that is due to ship on November 1. She is eager to please the department store in the hope of getting more future business. She asks Bryan Collins, the company’s purchasing agent, to procure all necessary parts in time for production to begin on October 10. Bryan orders the parts from reputable suppliers, and most of them arrive by October 7. George Watkins, the production manager, begins production as scheduled on October 10, although the gears that Bryan ordered were delayed because of quality control problems at the manufacturer. Bryan assures George that the gear shipment will arrive before October 16 when those parts are scheduled to be attached to the bicycles. The shipment finally arrives on October 18 after production has been delayed for two days.

Required
Which department should bear the responsibility for the two days’ downtime? How can similar problems be avoided in the future?