A cake shop, although a small organization, nonetheless illustrates the materials management process. The owner of the shop, Priya, opened the shop in the center of her city. It can be assumed that all essential ingredients for cakes she buys from local supermarkets. At first, she would accumulate all products required for baking and subsequent cake preparation. She would use a make-to-stock order model in her business (Chapman et al., 2017). However, another type of product distribution, make-to-order, allowed her business to grow substantially. Make-to-order custom increased her interaction with clients and allowed her to build long-term relationships with some of them. Due to a higher number of clients, Priya had to hire another professional, which she did.
Moreover, make-to-order required customers to pick up their orders within a specific time, which led to a problem. Many clients had to wait in the shop excessively, and because of that, the owner purchased a medium-sized vehicle. The car let Priya deliver various types of cakes to different areas in the city, which contributed to the relative organizational growth (Chapman et al., 2017).
When she was completing huge wedding cakes, the customers wanted her to take care not only of cakes but special cakes pedestals. They were unwilling to deal with such issues themselves, so Priya had no choice but to connect with several such service providers (Chapman et al., 2017). As a result, she started working with them, although successfully, she realized her dependency on them. She was not in the position to manage them but to cooperate. Another issue that she had is the lack of a proper website. The particularly make-to-order system should operate through a website, which is convenient and intuitive for customers to use.
Reference
Arnold, J. R. T., Chapman, S. N., & Clive, L. M. (2017). Introduction to materials management (8th ed.). Pearson.