Case: Deere & Company is the market leader in the manufacture and supply of machinery used in agriculture and construction. In 2014, Deere & Company was listed 80th in the Fortune 500 America’s ranking and was 307th in the 2013 Fortune Global 500 ranking. They had a diverse product range that was made to order and retail activity was extremely seasonal with most of the sales occurring between March and July. Their supply chain strategy of replenishing dealers’ inventories weekly, using direct shipment and cross-docking operations from source warehouses located near Deere & Company’s manufacturing facilities were proving too costly and too slow. So, they wanted to launch an initiative to achieve a 10% supply chain cost reduction within four years.
Note: You can use the company date which is available in web for public viewing.
As per your analysis, what are the major challenges faced by Deere & company which is making the supply chain too costly and too slow (7 marks ,200 words)
Develop a plan to address these challenges and achieve a minimum of 10% supply chain cost reduction within four years(8 marks ,200 words)
