QUESTION ONE $(30$ Marks$)$

Your group has been contacted by the IT manager for Superb Innovations Sensors and

Controls to review the situation at the institution.

Read the case $$Superb Innovations $$ Superbly Innovating with Information Systems$$ and

answer the following questions.

The Questions:

$1.$ What was Superb Innovations Sensors and Controls$$ business model? Ensure that

the strategic business objective$($s$)$ and information system strategy$/$ies being

employed is included.

$(5$ marks$)$

$2.$ What was the problem that Kyle Greaves and Superb Innovations Sensors and

Controls needed to solve in the case? $[2$ marks$]$ What were the surrounding issues

of the problem? Give consideration to the management, organization and technology

related factors. $[3$ marks$]$

$(5$ marks$)$

$3.$ What solutions $($mentioned in the case$)$ were available to solve the problem?

$[2$

marks$]$ What were the other solutions $($if any$)$ of which Superb Innovations did not

think? $[5$ marks$]$

$(7$ marks$)$

$4.$ How much did Superb Innovations have to change the way it conducted business to

take advantage of the SupplyWorks software? $[2$ marks$]$ What were the obstacles to

change? Give consideration to the previously mentioned strategic objective$($s$),$

strategies, and problem and its surrounding issues that Superb Innovations needed

to solve. $[4$ marks$]$

$(6$ marks$)$

$5.$ Was the implementation of SupplyWorks a successful solution? Include the results of

implementing the new system, what the new system did and how these benefited the

business, and any negative issues concerning the new system.

$(7$ marks$)$

The Case:

Superb Innovations $$ Superbly Innovating with Information Systems

Superb Innovations Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets industrial

instruments for measurement, display and control. Superb Innovations divides its $$6$

billion business into three segments: Professional Instrumentation, Industrial

Technologies, and Tools & Components. One of the three focused niche businesses in

the Industrial Technologies segment is Superb Innovations Sensors and Controls $($SISC$),$

a leading manufacturer of process$/$environmental controls and tools and components.

Superb Innovations is a believer in lean manufacturing, which focuses on continuous

improvement of the manufacturing process and elimination of nonproductive time. Lean

manufacturers use waste reduction and improved processes to keep inventory levels low,

reduce working capital, and fulfill orders faster. Kyle Greaves, vice president of supply

chain management for SISC, is in charge of keeping his division lean.

Superb Innovations employs the Japanese kanban method of supply chain management

instead of relying on a manufacturing resource planning $($MRP$)$ system. An MRP reorders

parts based on projections of need from the factory floor. The kanban method uses actual

need, as observed on the factory floor, to replenish parts just before they run out. Kanban

is the Japanese word for $$sign$$ or $$signboard$.$

Manufacturers who use a kanban system for material or parts replenishment affix kanban

cards to the fronts of their storage bins. When a storage bin is low in supply, a worker

transports the card to the appropriate storage area to signal the need for more parts. At

SISC, the worker who collects kanban cards from bins is called a pacer. The pacer hand

delivers stacks of cards to the factory$$s buyers, who in turn initiate orders based on the

supplier, part number, and quality information printed on the cards. Each factory in

Superb Innovations$$ Sensors and Controls division requires between $30,000$ and $40,000$

parts, so the process is taxing. Still, this traditional execution of the kanban system is

suitable for operations that are confined to a factory.

However, cards often disappear, by accident or through carelessness. One study of

major auto suppliers found that one percent of kanban cards was lost every day. As a

result, one percent of inventory replenishments orders do not go through and the

inventory for those supplies runs dry. Production suffers, and both the buyers and the

purchasers have to make up for the lost transactions.

Before Greaves joined Superb Innovations in $2020,$ the company$$s kanban system was

heavily manual. The controls division maintained a Mapics MRP system solely to track

inventory and orders. Other than that, Superb Innovations purposely avoided any

significant applications of information technology to its lean efforts. Over the years, the

corporation had acquired a number of smaller companies and succeeded at reducing

their inventory levels and increasing their production rates using a relatively pure form of

kanban. Superb Innovations effectively scrutinized and improved the flow of materials

and parts through its factories without committing large expenditures to technology.

Despite the efficacy of the systems in place, Greaves had to