Inventory Control at Wheeled Coach Inc.
Company Profile: Wheeled Coach
Wheeled Coach Industries, Incorporated is the largest manufacturer of ambulances and rescue vehicles. The subsidiary of Collins Industries, Inc. was founded in 1975, and is currently based in Winter Park, Florida. Wheeled Coach, led by their President Bob Collins, Jr. employs a highly trained production team of over three hundred and fifty personnel who are responsible for the assembly and final production of all ambulances in their production facility. Wheeled Coach offers its product through their dealers, their global sales network, direct sales, and online. The company’s keys to success include, but are not limited to: custom designs, the use of work cells, a single focus factory design, an innovative engineering team and inventory control. Wheeled Coach Industries boast several designs to meet the needs of their customers and prides itself on meeting their delivery deadlines. On average, the company rolls out twenty vehicles per week off of their assembly line.
To stay competitive and dominate the ambulance market place, Wheeled Coach, Inc, relies heavily on an efficient inventory management process that provides for minimum but accurate inventory, great quality, tight schedules and accurate records. This was made evident when recently, Wheeled Coach, Incorporated won a Multi-Year Contract from the City of New York to provide new ambulances for their Fire Department.
Inventory Concerns:
Sound inventory management is one of the company’s keys to success. Effective auditing procedures enable success by increasing the company’s ability to meet deadlines, appropriately allocate resources and operate efficiently. The three primary inventory concerns as per this case study are:
1) Long Lead times for Aluminum (Reynolds Metal)
2) 50% of the cost of all manufactured ambulance are from purchased materials
3) The parts that make up the vehicles chassis components account for a large percentage of the purchased materials.
Inaccurate
Wheeled Coach Industries, Incorporated is the largest manufacturer of ambulances and rescue vehicles. The subsidiary of Collins Industries, Inc. was founded in 1975, and is currently based in Winter Park, Florida. Wheeled Coach, led by their President Bob Collins, Jr. employs a highly trained production team of over three hundred and fifty personnel who are responsible for the assembly and final production of all ambulances in their production facility. Wheeled Coach offers its product through their dealers, their global sales network, direct sales, and online. The company’s keys to success include, but are not limited to: custom designs, the use of work cells, a single focus factory design, an innovative engineering team and inventory control. Wheeled Coach Industries boast several designs to meet the needs of their customers and prides itself on meeting their delivery deadlines. On average, the company rolls out twenty vehicles per week off of their assembly line.
To stay competitive and dominate the ambulance market place, Wheeled Coach, Inc, relies heavily on an efficient inventory management process that provides for minimum but accurate inventory, great quality, tight schedules and accurate records. This was made evident when recently, Wheeled Coach, Incorporated won a Multi-Year Contract from the City of New York to provide new ambulances for their Fire Department.
Inventory Concerns:
Sound inventory management is one of the company’s keys to success. Effective auditing procedures enable success by increasing the company’s ability to meet deadlines, appropriately allocate resources and operate efficiently. The three primary inventory concerns as per this case study are:
1) Long Lead times for Aluminum (Reynolds Metal)
2) 50% of the cost of all manufactured ambulance are from purchased materials
3) The parts that make up the vehicles chassis components account for a large percentage of the purchased materials.
Inaccurate
References: Bloomberg Business Week. 03 April 2011. Heizer, J. & Render, B. Operations Management. Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2011. Wheeled Coach Industries. 05 April 2011.