please answer this case study

Cases and Exercises AVTOTT, TTC. Susan Dey and Hill Mifflin, procurement manager at Avion loc. sutaron from cach other and reviewed a troubling performance report concerningakepper, Foster Tech nologies. The report detailed the deteriorating performance of der Technologies in the areas of material quality and on time delivery Susan I don't believe what I am sering. This applier was clearly a star when we performed our supplier visits beforewarding the contract for the new Ameed product line I'm not pleased. I was on the team that performed the site visit. Faster's management was so mooth--they indicated they could meet all our require ment. I feel like we've been misled by this supplier Susant. Didat you look at their process and quality tema? il Sure we did. Everything checked out fine. But every other shipment has some problem, and the delays are hurting our aty to get our product to our customers. What really struck us about this applier was howevative they were. Foster's biggest drawback was their site-they lacked some depth key manufacturing engineering position. Maybe that's why they are having prob lems. It could be that someone asked the company Saun We are going to have to address these problemas quando BE I'll tell you what I am going to recommend We should begin immediately to look for another supplier. I never was a fan of these inglese contracts. They are w open to too much risk Susu But we't that take a long time! Milure. We'll have to perform another supplier arch with tem v New tooling could really cost, too. This could take months Susan Has anyone talked with the supplier about these problema? Bill Kevin went over personally today and talked with the production manager. He didn't have much time to explain, but he indicated on the phone that Foster's pro duction manager said we should accept responsibility for a good part of the prob. lems that are occurring Susan Why should we? I think they are just trying to hit the blame for their peer performance At this point, Kevin O'Donnell, another procurement manager, entered the room Kevin.glad you're here. We were just dincoming how Poster is trying to blame for their problem. I think we should dump them fast Kevin Yeah. well. I've got news for you. I think Poster's production manager in cur rect. I think I would be frustrated with too! Susan What are you talking about? Kevin: I spent a good part of the day over at Foster and learned some interesting things For example, do either of you remember what we told Foster the monthly volume requirements for the product would be? Ball I remember exactly. The volumes were projected to be 2.500 units a month. So what's the problem? Kevin: We need to talk with our production group more often. The monthly volumes are now over 4,000 units a month! And not only that our production group now wants material within 10 days of a material release rather than two weeks. We have also been changing the final material release quantities right up to the last Cases and Exercises , Kevin: Yeah. well. Tve got news for you two. I think Poster's production manager is com rect. I think I would be frustrated with us, too! Bill: Susant: What are you talking about? Kevin: I spent a good part of the day over at Foster and learned some interesting things For example, do either of you remember what we told Foster the monthly volume requirements for the product would be? I remember exactly. The volumes were projected to be 2.500 units a month So what's the problem? Kevin: We need to talk with our production group more often. The monthly volumes are now over 4,000 units a month! And not only that, our production group now wants material within 10 days of a material release rather than two weeks. We have also been changing the final material release quantities right up to the last minute before delivery Bill: Uh oh. I remember on our site visit that the most their production system could handle was 3.500 units a month. And a two-week lead time was about as low as they could go. Susant: But why didn't they inform us that these changes were causing problems? They still have some explaining to do Kevin: Apparently they tried. What did your team tell this supplier about communicat ing with us after you finished negotiating the contract? Bill: We said that any operational problems or issues have to go through our materials management people. The team was responsible for evaluating and selecting the supplier, and then negotiating the agreement. Kevin: Foster's production manager produced a log detailing seven memes and Letters outlining the impact of our production and scheduling changes on their opera- tion. He also called us several times with no response. Each of these inquiries received little attention on the part of our materials group. I'm not sure how fond Foster is of us as a customer. I think they are anxious for this contract to wind down so they can damp us! Susant. What do we do now? ASSIGNMENT 1. What parts of the supply chain are most closely involved with the situation in this case? What is the responsibility of each part in order to maintain a smooth flow of material? 2. What initially appears to be the problem? What really is the problem(s) in this cate? 3. How easy is it to switch suppliers? What could complicate a firmis ability to switch to a new supplier? 4. What does it mean to get to the root cam ot cause of a problem? 5. What does it mean to be a good customer? Why does a buying firm want to be perceived by a supplier as a good customer? Provide specific examples of what a firm must do to be a good supply chain customer