Coil and Sheet Steel Company Limited

Abstract

This case discusses a wide range of supply chain issues, ranging from procurement strategies, managing internal operations, to handing despatches to customers, handled at Coil AND sheet Steel Company Limited (CSSL). The implications of such an integrated look at these decisions are evident because of the tight linkages of material and information flow, described here. The context for the case is a cross functional effort within CSSL to identify key areas for improving supply chain effectiveness. The data collected includes company financials; operation cycle time (lead time), i.e. service related and market information. Another major supply chain performance indicator used is inventories at various points. Some major issues for analysis of the case are presented in the form of recommendations made by the task force that met to study the issue. The technology related with the product and process is such that a limited number of facilities (for transport, loading/unloading, and processing) have to cater to an increasingly wide range of products. This inevitably leads to a waiting line of products waiting to be processed. At the first level, without getting into issues of detailed scheduling, the managers in question have used some implicit norms to identify areas where performance can be improved.