Brian Addington

Valerie Ramsey

Carrie Richardson

Sara Scott

Dave Speidel

Panasonic Car Audio Division

Company Background

• Located in Peachtree City

• Manufacture Car Stereo Equipment

• Basic Products: CD tuner, Cassette tuner, CD/Cassette combo, Radio tuner, 6 disc changer

Supplies to Panasonic

• 60 main suppliers

• 60% of supplies come from overseas

• Originally used boat, lead time was 12 weeks (6-8 for manufacturing, 4 for shipping)

Supplies to Panasonic

• Switched to air – low weight to cost ratio of electronic components

– bulk shipping rates (Yamato and Fed Ex)

– inventory reduction

– increased customer response due to constant shipments

Supply Chain

Panasonic to Customer

• Customer dictated

• Customers send in weekly orders

• 1-2 weeks notice for large changes in demand

• Never miss an order!

Panasonic to Customer

Picking Suppliers• Mainly small, independent companies

• Moving away from Japan and U.S.

• No preferred countries, only preferred suppliers.

• Characteristics of choosing suppliers– Quality

– Dependability of delivery

– Engineering capabilities and support

– Reputation

– Financial stability

– Price

Forecasting

• Determine market flavor and trends– Example: SUV popularity

• Past history

• Forecast six months out, but only two months out is firm

Inventory

• Service level of 100%

• Prefer to stock raw materials rather than finished goods.

• Keep 7 days of finished goods in stock

• Adding 70,000 square feet of warehouse space to the Peachtree City Plant

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)• Computer to computer exchange of knowledge

• Allows immediate knowledge to adapt to order changes

• Allows communication with certain suppliers

• Eliminates confusing paperwork

• Requires costly support which may be eliminated through the use of a web based system