Supply Chain Management

Engr. Turab Ali Khan

GATEWAY: CASE STUDY FOR SUPPLY CHAIN

Mohsin Seyal E/M-SPR11-041

Supply Chain Management

Engr. Turab Ali Khan

i. Why did gateway have multiple production facilities in the

United States? What advantages or disadvantages does increasing the number of production facilities offer? How does Gateway decide which production facility will produced and ship a customer order? Gateway has acted so sharply in this regard and its policies are working very well with the growing demand. They have setups in different regions, this has benefitted them in a way that they cater any particular region or market with its respective plants and production houses.

ii.

What factors did Gateway consider when deciding which plant to close?

The markets which were saturated and showing poor results, specially Malaysia were ignored and gateway just did shut down the plant there. iii. Why did gateway choose not to carry any finished product inventory at its retail stores?

Gateway was really clever in deciding whether to keep such items in inventory or not. As gateway knew that people dont wait for FMCG products and opt for the alternative but when its about computers, customers could wait. Doing so, they had no inventory on risk. iv. Should a firm with an investment in retail stores carry any finished goods inventory? What are the characteristics of the products that are most suitable to be carried in finished goods inventory? What characterizes products that are best manufactured to order?

Those who have retail stores should definitely keep some inventory. But particularly in electronic items its always risky to keep inventory. In interior designing, the retailers can keep sofas or beds, because they just dont get out dated that easy but in computers, everyday there is a change or modification. v. Is the Dell model of selling directly without retail stores always less expensive than a supply chain with retail stores?

Supply Chain Management

Engr. Turab Ali Khan

This doesnt seem to be an appropriate model according to me but so far it had worked for Dell and they are actually successful in the process. What are the supply chain implications of Gateway's decision to offer fewer configurations? Supply chain is not of the view of fewer configurations, extra ordinary configurations help the product reach masses and grow bigger.

vi.