Carestream Health Inc.: When Disruption Hits a Lean Supply Chain – Case Solution

Case questions answered:

Not the questions you were looking for? Submit your own questions & get answers.

Carestream Health Inc.: When Disruption Hits a Lean Supply Chain Case Answers

Abstract – Carestream Health Inc.: When Disruption Hits a Lean Supply Chain Case Study

The Carestream Health Inc. CHX, in Xiamen, China subsidiary, consists of a well-planned lean production system and a supply chain with an experienced group of personnel. The subsidiary has faced an issue of bringing down the raw materials from the USA facility to manufacture the final product.

This process is delayed by the dockworker strike in the USA, as the CHX, China, is forced to choose an option between airfreight or regular transport via a different route to get the raw materials earliest before the firm completely runs out of inventory.

With the time constraint, the firm needs to select a suitable option as the subsidiary is in a very competitive market. To protect the market share and to supply the customers without any delays, the best option to choose is airfreight. The costs of it can be higher, yet losing the market share, customer loyalty, etc., are much higher than airfreight costs.

Introduction

The USA-based Carestream Health Inc., which was earlier known as Kodak Medical Group, is a subsidiary of Onex Corporation. It is a world-leading health imaging product provider that plays a significant role in the medical industry.

The organization is well known for its production of radiography, computer radiography systems, and, prominently, the wide rolls of high-quality coated film for X-ray imaging systems while working on business activities through five divisions.

The medical imaging healthcare IT, nondestructive testing, and advanced materials and contract manufacturing, dental imaging solutions are some of them. The operations are conducted in North America, Africa, Asia Pacific, South America, Europe, and the Middle East.

The CHX Xiamen subsidiary owned by Carestream Health Inc. withholds 80% of the production in the film, becoming the USA Carestream’s largest buyer. With a well-planned, systematic lean production and supply chain, CHX Xiamen is having a problem getting supplied the required wide rolls of film from USA Carestream facilities due to the dockworker labor dispute.

Carestream Health Inc.’s disruption has emerged as a result of the dockworker dispute that occurred in October 2014. As mentioned (Scheyder, 2012), American blue-collar workers are paid very heavily. When the shipping companies are striving to control the costs, including labor, the issues have started to rise.

Compared to the USA, rival ports such as Shanghai use five dockworkers to perform a task, whereas the USA uses twenty dockworkers. Considering the issues between the workers and employers based on payments, automation, and workplace efficiency, the slowdowns and disputes started in the West, East, and Gulf coasts of the USA.

The slowdown of the port was initiated by close to 14,000 longshoremen, who are a vital element of the supply chain, causing a cost of 2 billion per day. On the other aspect, this impacted businesses in the USA, such as manufacturing, retailing, and agriculture, as well as the economy in other parts of the world.

The case study flowed as a consequence of the labor dispute that occurred. Its effect on the Carestream Health Inc., China CHX (Xiamen) supply chain is emphasized as the wide rolls of film are the key material needed for the production where the final goods are sold to the hospitals and agents via the Carestream Health Inc. and Asia Pacific internal company.

Based on the situation caused to the company, the managers depend on their successful lean production system. However, if the company does not supply the demand of the hospitals and agents, they can go to the competitors of Carestream Health Inc.

It would result in the loss of market share. This situation is critically analyzed, and the managers are deciding whether airfreight is a viable option to face the threat overhead of them.

The Business during the strike at Carestream Health Inc. CHX (Xiamen)

80% of the USA production of wide film rolls is catered to the Carestream CHX China. Emphasis on their production level consisted of zero defects, no delays, etc., while efficiently managing the supply chain and handling 50% of the market share in the industry.

While the firm is dependable on 80% of the production capacity of the USA subsidiary, when there is a hold on the material supply, it can drastically affect the firm and the production system of the firm. The inventory levels have come down to 2-6 days of inventory due to the labor dispute and the fluctuation in the shipping lead time.

The Lean Production initiatives which have been implemented over the last few years have assisted Carestream Health Inc. in reaching an…