BRITISH CONSOLIDATED AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY

Managing Projects and Supply Chains within the British Consolidated Agricultural Machinery Co Ltd (BCAM): A Case Study

Managing Projects and Supply Chains within the British Consolidated Agricultural Machinery Co Ltd (BCAM): A Case Study

Question 1: Critically evaluate the existing Supply Chain Management approach within BCAM and identify the consequences of such an approach?

The Supply Chain Management (SCM) approach within British Consolidated Agricultural Machinery Co. (BCAM) represent the components of a strategic firm orientation. James Irvine is the managing director of British Consolidated Agricultural Machinery Co Ltd (BCAM) holding 40% of the shares. His brother, Tom, holds 25% of the shares and holds the post of production director. The company came into existence during the mass industrialisation of the UK agricultural sector. BECAM manufactured tractors and a wide array of associated agricultural machinery such as harvesters, balers, mowers, seed drills and sprayers. The manufacturing was reorganised into four divisions (one for each product category) within the Birmingham factory and a dedicated production manager was appointed for each division.

The company grew at a rapid rate in the early part of the twentieth century. This perspective on how an organization defines who we stands for is central to understanding the relationship between firm strategy and behaviour and SCM. This question evaluate the existing Supply Chain Management literature of that provides an underpinning for global SCM strategy. In addition, literature from logistics, lean logistics operations management, value chains, purchasing/procurement, decoupling, leagile supply chain bull-whip effect, lean and agile supply chains and marketing are reviewed to specify external environmental characteristics and internal processes and capabilities that are critical to establishing a sustainable competitive advantage through global SCM.

The huge BCAM warehouse on the Birmingham site still uses a stock management system based largely on manual processes. Component stock levels are managed on the basis of a simple reorder level for each category, monitored by regular inspections in the warehouse. When a stock issue is made from the warehouse to production, this may cause the stock level to fall below the reorder level and trigger a purchase.

In his role as production director, Tom Irvine met on numerous occasions with his production management team and together with Kenneth Samuels, the marketing director, he developed a proactive strategy with four distinct elements which he believed would enable the company to survive its immediate problems and regain market share into the future. Peter Booker had been too busy to be involved in these discussions. The four elements of Tom's strategy were:

Re-engineer the BCAM procurement process and supply chain to transform the manufacturing process from a traditional build-to-stock approach to an alternative integrated approach by only building products that had been ordered by customers.

By any means necessary, reduce the excessive amount of inventory held on the Birmingham site.

Launch and aggressively market the new 'Broadside' seed drill product.

Abandon the production of BCAM tractor engines and source the engines from Okayama in Japan.

The consequences of SCM approach within the BECAM, the BECAM determining how organizations invest scarce resources to achieve ...