Custom Molds Is a Manufacture Company

Situation

Custom Molds is a Manufacture Company that has been providing custom designed molds for plastic parts and produces custom made plastic connectors for its customers. Custom models have encounter issues such as production delays, delivery days, and staying up to date with recent technologic advances.

Custom Molds discovered that recent advances in technology have allowed manufactures to develop strategic partnerships with part suppliers. This ensured manufactures to receive supplies on a timely matter of high-quality cost effective products. Bottlenecks are another issue faced by Custom Molds. Parts orders were taking four to five weeks instead of the stated three weeks by Custom Molds. Customers were getting upset with the delay of products. The bottleneck faced by Custom Molds is being unable to specially identify and determine when a certain product would be ready for delivery, and having everything tied up in one process waiting to move onto the next.

Complication

Flow charts:

Figure A Fabrication process

Figure B Manufacturing process

Competitive Priorities of the fabrication process and manufacturing process

Quality

• Should always be of top quality and standards

• Should be coherent and consistent

Lead-time

• Delivery should always be on-time

• High development speed

Cost

• Low cost

• Ability to reduce cost to at least competitor’s cost, if not lower.

Flexibility

• Customization of the mould

• Increase volumes without huge adjustments in cost

Custom Molds competitive priorities were providing top and consist quality to all customers. For example always having the same machinist who was assigned to the design team. This allowed for coherent production and design of specific products for customers. Time was another competitive priority seen in Custom Molds, delivery speed and on time delivery was an issues in the more recent years. Development speed was another competitive factor associated with time; Custom Molds was able to develop a lead-time of its molds. For example, nine weeks lead time for delivery of custom-fabricated molds; also quoting three weeks lead time for parts not requiring fabricated molds and so forth.

Cost is one of the most important competitive priorities for Custom Molds; by providing

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