American Connector Company Analysis Essay

case and efficiency is the key to Ameri lavatory Connector Company (ACC) success. ACC has lost food market sh are to DJC over the new-fashioned years, which go forth be exacerbated if DJC opens a proceedsion facility in the united States. DJC has gained much knowledge from its Kawasaki whole works and is going to enter the US market with factories that will be effectual. ACC is in trouble and pick ups to drastic eachy switch the federal agency they do business if they want to survive.Looking and emulating DJC is the first criterion American Connector brings to follow. American Connector can get hold market share and survive by focusing on tint and efficiency. ACC needs to do the following to ensure success before DJC enters the US market1)Redesigning their manu pulverisation layout for a more streamlined operation.2)Purchase new equipment that is in better shape and more competent. Institute a genuine caution program to ensure the equipment runs properly.3)Work wi th the consumer to create a good simplistic design.4)Continue to extend employees happy to put one across sure they remain at the company and ACC retains this sharp property.5)Implement a Quality Control Division. ACC cannot rely on identifying sorry move only after merchandiseion. They need to implement tone control throughout the process, which will reduce costs and increase efficiency and profitability.Industry circumstanceJapan and the United States have had a different mentality and hold out ethic over the past centuries besides it has become especially plain over the last 30 years. The United States relies on bills, techno crystal clear mundaneness and reputation/name recognition. Japan has been able to get leading with to a great extent work, innovations, and technological advances. To the dis similar of many American companies, Japan has taken technologies created by US companies and reverse engineered and improved on them until they were the dominant company in the industriousness. A good example is sh testify with the DJCCorporation in Japan. They took ideas, concepts and technology from American companies and made them even more efficient and successful.The electrical connector industry is large. These connectors do everything from usurp wires to wires, wires to outlets, attach wires, components or chips to PC boards, or attach PC boards to other boards. These connectors have two main move a plastic housing and metal socket pins or terminals. The applications range from military and aerospace to computers to telecommunications to automobiles. thither are thousands of standard connector product lines. The pricing of the connector depends on its level of technology and industry use.In the 1970s there was a large boom in the United States and companies took gain of it. Demand slowed in the 1980s wind to many suppliers for a decrease need leading to consumers world able to demand their prices.The miniaturization of circuitry and te chnological advances led to the need for new connectors and manufacturing techniques. The demands of the consumer were highly specific. This allowed other competitors to enter the US market.Lessons LearnedA. DJC at the Kawasaki Plant1) skill DJC continued to review and adjust their production facilities to find the most efficient way to operate. This focus on efficiency has created a cost efficient way of producing wire connectors that cannot be rivaled. It will take other companies years to match the efficiency of the Japanese production facilities.The Just-In-Time delivery of resources and demand on their tippy material suppliers to have almost daily deliveries of supplies, DJC reduced the need for large warehouses saving money. The use of tape rolls of connectors was a design that the consumer want and found easy for use at their production facilities. The design of their product encase led to a more efficient way to palletize and pack their products for shipment to distrib utors. While DJC maintains about two months of finished goods, the design of the incase reduces the room it requires in the warehouse.2) Quality Japans streamlined trading operations has allowed it to add fibre assurance to their production process. Through this high quality and deprivation of flawed parts they have gained a good reputation, which was something that was normally reserved for American companies. The continuous inspections, replacement or worn parts and the high level of maintenance of the equipment allowed the factory to run smoothly. The focus on fixing problems before they happened has led to fewer problems encountered on the production line.3) cogitate to Customers DJC maintained a close link with its customer and took the customer introduce to adjust the connectors to meet customer needs. This allowed DJC to be proactive and come about a chief of changing trends within the computer industry. The simplified designs they created required fewer raw materia ls increasing efficiency and reducing costs.4) Trade Secrets DJC reverse engineered many of its azoic connectors from designs from other companies. This sped up the design process and allowed them to quickly enter the market. They did not want the same thing to happen to them so they had contracts written up with suppliers and created an internal design division that did their work in house. This allowed DJC to keep their advanced(a) ideas to themselves, maintaining their advantage over the competition.5) Plant Layout DJC focused on the outgo way to produce connectors. Their plant layout and simplified design process allowed for an efficient operation, utilizing the factory space to its fullest. The process was set up in the most logical and efficient manner allowing for an increase in quality and reduction in personnel. The new Japanese plants were highly automated but DJC focused on pre-automation to ensure the plant runs smoothly. All people that work within the factory unde rstand their role and are properly trained, materials are centrally located, quality and goals were clearly laid out and continuous improvements are sought. The limited soma of products that DJC produces for their consumer allows them to schedule long production runs.6) Goal Setting The management was tough in all aspects of decision-making. They still the importance of the having an overall goal that is understood by all divisions. They created the overall goal and allowed the managers of the different divisions to create their own goals that conformed to the focus of the company. Employees on the line knew the goal of the company and what management expect and solved many of the problems at the lowest level.B. American Connector at Sunnydale1) Operating Problems The American Connector facilities especially in California are experiencing increases in costs and deterioration in quality. The performance in the plant is leading to the consumer losing confidence in ACC. This will lead the consumer to other options like DJC with a better reputation.2) Investments Complacency allowed ACC to believe there was no inappropriate competition in the US. They did not invest time or money into upgrading their facilities, quality, or capacity. The equipment within the facility is becoming overage and is not world replaced.3) Efficiency The production facility is not run efficiently. There fivesome production areas in the plant. Different areas run at different speeds leave stockpiles of parts. This leads to inefficiency and an increase in facility space required to hold all of the parts awaiting further assembly. The facility is not fully automated which leads to lazy assembly on small runs, which are assembled by hand.The packaging of the connectors is incompetent with the wide range of package designs awkward for storage and shipment. The awkward packaging does not lend itself to proper palletization or containerization taking up free room in the warehouse. It is ponderous to adjust production lines with the forecast being done three months in advance. With a difficulty among customers of predicting the success of their products, it is hard for ACC to get ahead or adjust quickly to changing demands. If a different producer is more adaptive they willsteal the sales.4) Quality ACC quality has slipped at the Sunnyvale plant. There is a high rate of defective parts. While most of the defective parts do not make it to the customer, the waste of time and supplies costs ACC money.RecommendationsAmerican Connector Company has two options 1) stay with the status quo or 2) learn from the success of DJC and change their approach to head off DJCs competition in the US market. Really there is only one option for American Connector. Whether ACC believes it or not DJC will enter the US market. They need to change their mindset and do what is best for the company. With the way the US connector market has played out, it is open for transnational com panies to enter the market. ACC must change their mindset and stop being complacent. The lack of rivalry did has not spurred ACC to be innovative and create new ideas but allowed them to stay with the status quo missing the surge from their competitors.Complacency has led to outdated equipment and an inefficient plant operation. By taking the lessons that DJC learned at their Kawasaki plant, ACC can increase efficiency. If ACC streamlines their plant operations, buys new equipment, works with their customers to create a simpler product design, and makes more transportation friendly packaging they can have a more efficient operation.ACC has a couple of advantages over DJC that they need to change in on. First, they are already in the US market. ACC is already open up in America and can avoid many of the barriers to entry i.e. tariffs, taxes and initial financial layout that international companies will experience. ACC needs to build on their good reputation with their US customers. DJC is not keeping their employees longer than an average of 9 years. While they have a good salary for the entry-level employees, their advantage is reduced as employees advance within the company. They do rotate employees to different jobs yearbook giving them good experience in different areas but cannot keep them until retirement. If ACC takes care of their employees andgives them a competitive wage, good benefits and advancement opportunities they should have an advantage over DJC with more efficient workers.Referenceshttp//net.mba.wfu.edu/Shafer/FulltimeOpsStrategy/acc%20handouts.ppt