Analysis and Outlook of Supply Chains of Key Raw Material Sourcing: Case Study

Introduction to the Case Study

This assignment consists inthe development of an individualpiece of work in which you will synthesize the result of your analysis and research.With this you are to prepare a presentation with narrativeor a narrated posteror a video(maximum 7minutes±10%) in which you will be giving(from a procurement perspective) an overview of the sourcing of akey raw material used by the company you selected as a case study. The title of your presentation isgoing to be“Analysis and Outlook of Supply Chains of ......”Each student can choose the case study to analyse from the list provided in the Appendix I (see page 4).Your presentation must include the following sections: Section 1–Introduction to the Case StudyIn Section 1 you are totrace, analyse and discuss the structure ofthe supply chain of onekeyraw materialthat is largely used by the company you selected to analyse (e.g. you might select lithiumif you choose Panasonic, plasticif you choose Xerox, etc.).As part of your analysis and discussion, you are toexplain how the company you selected usesthe raw material and state clearly in which products the raw material can be found.Section 2–Reflections on the raw material sourcingInsection 2, you are to discuss:§The factorswhich need to be taken into account during the procurement of the key raw materials identified§The principles of good practicethat can be applied to select a supplier. School of Physics, Engineering and Computer SciencePage 3of 5Section 3–Reflections on the raw material sourcingAssuming that the company needs to deliver the raw material to the UK, you should design a supply strategy for the specific raw material that is key for your business operations. This implies to recommend:§Acountry or region to supply the key raw materials for your manufacturing the company’s products.To complete the section, you are also to:§Comment on the suitabilityof the various regions which might currently supply the raw materials§With respect to the region you’ve recommended, discuss the current advantagesand challengesfaced with respect to using this area for one’s supply chain.Section 4–Addressing Capacity IssueOne of the buyers in your team has informed you that there is a sudden disruption in the supplyof anotherkey raw material for your business. In fact, dueto anatural disaster the factory that refines/manufactures the specific raw material has been completely destroyed and it mightresume its activity only8/10 monthsat 40% of the initial capacity.A prompt response to the event is required otherwise this is going to impact on operations in your company.Unfortunately, the company doesn’t have a back-up plan: in fact, the companymainly relies on a single sourcing–global sourcingstrategyfor the purchase of the raw materials.With this information, you are toidentify an alternative strategy to cope with the capacity shortage. More specifically, you are to:§Critically discuss the drawbacksof theinitial strategy (i.e.,singlesourcing–global sourcing).§Then, identify a new solution/strategy to address the capacity issue.§To conclude,justify the logic behindthe new strategy that was proposed