ACME Communications Biggest Issues

ACME Communications is a logistics company that has changed over the years from a telecommunications equipment producer to a transport company. It has encountered some issues operating in the market due to factors such as competition and poor management. The biggest issues included competition where the market was very competitive because of some new entrants into it. They had equal quality products to the company, and their prices were significantly lower hence posing a competitive advantage upon you. This caused ACMEs team to counteract the situation with promotional campaigns which later brought a huge cost to the company and hence some losses.

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The mass merchants did not have enough stock to respond to any fluctuations in demand. They just kept stock equal to the sales in the market, therefore; they had to replenish their stock every week to maintain adequate stock levels for the supply of the products to customers. It caused them to make short order replenishment cycles and affected the overall stock levels of the company as a whole because there was not enough planning on the stock levels replenishment cycles on a periodical basis. Customers, on the other hand, did not communicate their wants to the company on time, therefore, disrupted stock control management and, in the end, led to out of stock levels for the promoted items.

Another issue was on delivery performance. Every company or seller needs to maintain good working terms with their customers such as delivering goods on time and making a follow up on delivery issues. ACME did not manage to handle the issue strategically because the customers had no trust on the companys delivery of the product and were not sure of when their orders would arrive. The local deliveries issues were caused by the companys local delivery dispatching team during the carriers that the company used affected deliveries at the national level. There was also a dispute between suppliers and mass merchants. Mass merchants had started using laser barcodes scanners in the packages which suppliers felt it was costly. Some suppliers could not easily change to the new system because of the high costs of using barcodes on packages.

ACMEs suppliers failed in terms of inventory reliability. At times, there would be back orders, which would be resolved in months time hence causing out of stock levels of the subsequent products to ACME traders. When the suppliers made their deliveries, their deliveries would have occasional errors, which meant that the orders had to be shipped back for replacements. The whole process caused delays and loss of money and customers to ACME. Customers experienced delays on confirmations of order receipts and compliance and at times, there were no confirmations at all. Mass merchants made the situation worse because they confirmed orders after receipt of the actual orders. It showed that the order system was not reliable for the companys functions.

Recommendations to address the issues

ACME should come up with strategic competitive policies. The company should not issue out promotional products without limits as it can affect their stock levels, hence delays. The management should have regulations controlling promotions and offers to customers that do not affect their stock levels (Chandra & Grabis 2007). For instance, the management would give discounts on customers occasionally and reduce the number of promotional products offered to customers to reduce their costs and customers getting used to the same offers for purchasing things from ACME.

Mass merchants need to have a consistent and periodic stock replenishment system. Their practice of just stocking goods on a weekly basis and concerning the actual sales is risky to any business because there might be lead-time delays, which can cause a business to stop. One needs to have extra stock in case of unexpected demands and to avoid running out of stock if ACME experiences any supply delays. Mass merchants should, therefore, have longer order cycles.

It is important to have a follow up on the delivery performance of the company. The management in charge should ensure orders arrive at customers on time; a follow-up is made to ensure all customers receive their orders, and it is important to ask for customers reviews to know on the areas of improvement or get feedback on what clients feel you are doing right.

ACME should have a standard system of packaging their products (Wang, Heng & Chau 2007). It will ensure there is no conflict between the mass merchants and suppliers. The bar code is easy to use and saves time on the management of the stock levels, therefore; it is the right system to implement in the companys products. The management of ACME should meet the mass merchants and suppliers to set a date when all parties should implement the system in their workplaces. It will allow enough time for the suppliers to gather resources to put up the bar code systems for package and labeling use.

It is important to set terms and conditions that control the suppliers and company. Suppliers should be liable for any supply errors, and no payment should be made before delivered goods are inspected and verified to be fit for use by a customer. Suppliers also need to ensure that all goods arrive on time and have enough stock to prevent back orders, which cause ACME to run out of stock and could lose some customers to their competitors in the market during such occasions.

Barriers they will face in implementing the recommendation

ACME will face some barriers in its recommendations implementation. First, there will be a financial constraint and resistance from the stakeholders of the company due to the introduction of a new bar code system (Kersten, Blecker & Ringle 2014). The company will have to secure enough money to purchase the system, as it will enable them to control stock levels from the suppliers to the mass merchants. The company might have to stop some projects to finance the system. Some stakeholders will not be ready to take up new systems hence becoming a barrier to the implementation of the system (Garg & Gupta 2012).

A high level of competition is another barrier that ACME will face. Every business wants to have a competitive advantage over the rest to gain a high market share (Quayle 2006). Therefore, when ACME comes up with new strategies to dominate the logistics industry, some competitors could implement the same policies or re-strategize them to be better hence posing a threat to ACME. Better strategies could make some customers shift to the competitors due to the offers made therefore making ACME lose both income and customers to its competitors.

Lack of proper planning could cause more problems than benefits when they implement the recommendations. All plans need to be compatible with the recommendations to have a successful outcome. The management, therefore, could be a barrier to the recommendations success.

References

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Chandra, C., & Grabis, J. (2007). Supply Chain Configuration Concepts, Solutions And Applications. New York, Springer.

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Garg, M., & Gupta, S. (2012). Cases On Supply Chain And Distribution Management: Issues And Principles. Hershey, Pa, Business Science Reference.Top of Form

Kersten, W., Blecker, T., & Ringle, C. M. (2014). Innovative Methods In Logistics And Supply Chain Management Current Issues And Emerging Practices. Berlin, Epubli Gmbh.

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Quayle, M. (2006). Purchasing And Supply Chain Management: Strategies And Realities. Hershey, Pa, Idea Group Publ.

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Wang, W. Y. C., Heng, M. S. H., & Chau, P. Y. K. (2007). Supply Chain Management Issues In The New Era Of Collaboration And Competition. Norwood Mass, Books

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