Supply Chain Design Executive Summary and Presentation

Supply Chain Design Executive Summary and Presentation (Preparation)

The modern day young adults delay the point of marriage and having children up to a point where they feel emotionally and financially stable. And when they do settle down and start out their families, they tend to be well educated and financially sound. Also, having postponed the moment of parenthood, this becomes a priority and the newborns usually get the best the parents can provide.

This category of new parents, from the middle and upper middle socio-economic class, represents the very target market for the two new products to be introduced, namely the heated crib mattress and the diaper bag with an installed camera. The two products are both designed for the comfort and protection of the children and they are characterized by a series of features. These features are best assessed in a comparative manner, in which the advantages and disadvantages of both items are presented. This analysis is conducted in the table below:

Advantages

Disadvantages

Heated crib

- Protects the child during his sleep and improves their health

- Made from a material which does not retain stains

- Antibacterial and anti-allergic, due to the materials

- Safe for usage by the child

- Only useful within the home

- Perceptions that warm and soft mattresses could lead to inadequate sleep, which can sometimes be the cause of SIDS -- sudden infant death syndrome (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2011)

Diaper bag with camera installed

- Accompanies the child wherever they go

- Can assess the means in which another person (baby sitter for instance), treats the child, where they take them, how they speak to them, what they feed them and so on - Complex functionality

- Could be discovered by the baby sitter, who could feel offended

- Due to its positioning, it might be difficult to access and use

All in all, the two items are both designed for the well-being and protection of the children, yet they reveal different functionalities and uses. Ultimately, they are not competitive products within the market, but complementary items. The selection of these two items is generically based on the advantages revealed by the heated mattress and the diaper bag with an installed camera, but also due to their appropriateness in the context of the selected target market. In this order of ideas, the modern day parents are busier and more preoccupied, yet they desire more and more for their children. In other words, the two items were selected due to their features and functionalities, as well as due to the expectation of high demand for them.

Furthermore, the competition in the field of products designed for infant and child care is growing fiercer with every year, and the players in the industry have to continually devise new products that serve the growing needs of the parents. A company in this industry for instance is successful when it becomes able to identify and serve a specific need before the parents become aware of the existence of this need (Stone and Foss, 2001).

In the particular case of the heated mattress and the diaper bag with an installed camera, the product offer for these items is often existent, in the meaning that the parents have identified the need for the items, yet they do not yet know to serve it. In other words, the two products -- registering a currently limited competition in the market -- would be able to severe a new, yet growing, need. Due to the existence of limited such products within the market, the company could register benefits of the new entrant and first provider of the items. This realization has also contributed to the selection of the two products.

Still, in order to capitalize on these potential benefits, it is imperative for the company to design and manufacture products which respond to the complex needs of the customers. Specifically, from the identification of baseline data, it is important to note the following design criteria:

Safety of usage, for both the child as well as the adult user

Guarantee of quality

Ability to perform the initially stated function

In this order of ideas, when creating the design for the two items, the company has to ensure that the products are safe for the usage of the children (mostly revealed at the level of the mattress, which has to ensure a safe, comfortable and correct sleeping position) as well as for the usage of the adults (especially at the level of the diaper bag with an incorporated camera, which has to prevent any accidents). Then, it is important for the two products to promise and deliver high quality, accompanied by results of studies conducted, as well as recommendations from specialists and certificates of guarantee, valid for at least two years. Such measures would increase the trust of the customers in the two new items. Finally, the heated mattress and the diaper bag with an incorporated camera have to perform at high standards of quality and ensure the successful completion of the stated functionalities; this criterion is the first and foremost important requirement in the design of the two items.

Last, the final issue to be addressed is represented by the needs which arise at the level of the supply chain. In a generic format:

"A supply chain consists of all parties involved, directly or indirectly, in fulfilling a customer request. The supply chain not only includes the manufacturer and suppliers, but also transporters, warehouses, retailers, and customers themselves. Within each organization, such as manufacturer, the supply chain includes all functions involved in receiving and filling a customer request. These functions include, but are not limited to, new product development, marketing, operations, distribution, finance, and customer service" (Small Business Advancement National Center).