The Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing—International (CAM-I) is an international consortium of companies, consultancies, and academics that have elected to work cooperatively in a precompetitive environment to solve problems common to the group. Its sole purpose is to support member companies in their quest for excellence in today’s highly competitive global marketplace. This case requires you to use the CAM-I Web site at www.cam-i.org to complete the following requirements.

Assume that a start-up manufacturing company has recently hired you, and your first task is to develop a cost planning and control environment for the firm.

Required:

a. Review CAM-I’s executive overview. Summarize the history of the organization and describe how CAM-I’s “participative model” produces value for its members.

b. Review CAM-I’s columns and news. Choose an article from the list that would guide you by specifically addressing a planning or control system topic, and write a brief summary of the article. Explain how information in the article will support the development of your planning and control system.

c. Review CAM-I’s member companies. Choose two companies from different industries and list several reasons for their membership in the organization.

d. Review CAM-I’s programs. Choose a program that you expect to be beneficial and write a memo to your new supervisor describing your rationale to justify the cost of joining this program.

e. Review CAM-I’s online bookstore. Identify two items from the cost management resources that would help you with your new responsibility. Explain your choices.

f. Consider CAM-I’s private forums. How would participation in CAM-I be justified for your organization from a benefit/cost perspective?