In organizations, it is important for management to understand the stage that followed when purchasing their raw materials so that the right products are delivered and produced at the appropriate time.
General Electric Company is a multinational organization that is located in America. This company conglomerates services and technology that are incorporated in the New York state. It arose after merging with different companies such as Edison General Electric Company and Thompson –Houston Electric Company since they could not produce complete installations with their own technology. Its headquarters are located in Schenectaldy New York.
General Electric Company offers a variety of services that include media, technology, and financial services worldwide. Its mode of operation is in four segments: energy in infrastructure, General Electric (GE) capital, NBC universal, and technology infrastructure. The energy in infrastructure section deals with the development, implementation, and improvement of products and technology to capture natural resources like water, oil, gas, and wind. The General Electric (GE) capital provides a variety of products and services that vary from commercial loans, home loans, credit cards, operating leases, insurance, fleet management, personal loans among other financial services. NBC Universal is an entertainment company while technology infrastructure involves GE Aviation, the former Aerospace and General Electric (GE) healthcare (Alden, p. 2).
General Electric is a company that purchases fridges from LG Company. It has a factory in Monterrey Mexico where after a final unit; the refrigerators are transported to a company called Pegasus that is situated in the United States of America. At Pegasus, a process called re-cladding is done which involves changing a stainless steel front to a stainless wrap. This was seen to be cheaper in the U.S to use a standard LG model from LG two skus. The stainless that is used is brought from General Electric metal suppliers while Pegasus employees provide labor force. The final product is then sold under the General Electric (GE) brand. When the re-cladding process is complete, the units are then moved to the company’s district centers that are distributed across the United States.
A discussion of the competitors at each stage of the General Electric supply chain
Supply chain refers to the process of managing components, manufacturing, and distributing mass-produced commodities. The management of the supply chain involves warehousing and tracking inventory. It also involves a group of people, technology information, and resources that are used to ensure products and services are delivered to the customer from the suppliers at the appropriate time. General Electric Company uses sustainable practices in order to reshape its supply chain management programs. The competitors of the General Electric Company include General Electric Engine Services, United Technologies, Pratt and Whitney, and Rolls Royce.
According to Alden, he noted that the stages in supply chain management involve planning, developing, making deliveries, and returning stages. The General Electric Company follows the following stages when dealing with competitors. In the planning stage, it involves developing a plan that can address products been produced and services are provided so as to meet the needs of the customers. General Electric Company defines its current strategic paths information that can meet its goals and objectives. An analysis is also done on its product service strategic plan synergies and also estimates the impact of its cash flow on the changes in the product service strategic path.
The development stage is a stage where the relationship between the company and suppliers is built so that raw materials needed to produce goods and services are delivered at the appropriate time to the company. The management of the company ensures that raw materials needed to produce a product are delivered at the appropriate time. Analyzes of cash flow are carried out so that the current strategic path can be implemented so that the right kind of products are produced.
In the delivery stage, it takes into account the methods that are used in ensuring goods and services produced are delivered at the appropriate time. General Electric Company outlines the transitional path strategy that helps in improving the performance of the company.
The return stage involves the process where the customers are expected to return goods that are defective so that the reputation of the company cannot be turnished. The management of the company identifies the major forces and challenges that hinder a company from achieving its objectives
Challenges facing the General Electric Company within the supply chain
The Chief Executive Officer of General Electric, Mr. Jerry Immett, stated that the company was facing challenges of building and implementing a high-growth integrated service strategy in General Electric (GE) businesses. For instance, the General Electric (GE) medical system underwent a transformation from a product-service hybrid. The major challenge in this business is that of providing a wide range of services such as implementing and operating radiological floors in the hospitals (Alden, p. 2).
According to Nagurney, he stated that another challenge is a lack of clarity in objectives set as seen in the integration of its products and services. The different parts of the organization have separate and different cost structures, customer segments prices and methodologies, channels of distribution, and market chains. The other challenge is that of managing its business and sustaining competitive differentiation of products and the flow of cash. Finally, generating positive and negative choices that can bring about development within a country is a challenge. It results from using a particular strategy in the company.
In conclusion, a supply chain is important in the running of a business as seen in the case of the General Electric Company though it has many challenges. Constant research work should be carried out so that the right procedures are followed when ordering raw materials so as to avoid wastage of time.
Works Cited
- Alden, E. One-Stop Shop Is No Cure-All: Supply Chain Problems Can be Extremely Costly but Passing the Buck to a Third-Party Logistics Company is No Solution in Itself. Financial Times. London: 1999.
- Nagurney, Anna: Supply Chain Network Economics: Dynamics of Prices, Flows, And Profits, United States: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006.