SCENARIO

Three years ago, two college roommatesPat Kelly and Jeff Speerreturned to their tailgating site after a football game only to find a troubling situation. A brief thunderstorm occurred during the game and it turned their tailgating tent into a twisted, unfixable mess. They had pooled some cash together only a few weeks prior to buy the tent. Now that investment was gone.

Frustrated, Pat created a tent that eliminated the metal frame which always seemed to be the fail point of the product. His prototype tent was supported by air-filled tubes that could quickly be inflated with a small battery-operated pump. Jeff created a marketing plan and the two entered a campus competition for new product innovations.

The team won $50,000 and rolled it into a venture called Inflate-a-Dome Innovations (IDI). They hired a friend to build a website, purchased the materials needed to build 50 inflatable tents, and were in business. Using social media and online advertising, IDI began to generate sales and soon had a sustainable business. A few catalog retailers offered to feature Inflate-a-Dome tents in their publications and sales grew.

Needing to manage the operations better, Pat and Jeff hired a friend who was a recent supply chain management grad. Vic Catella quickly assessed the situation and decided that to grow, IDI needed to better control its inventory, production, and transportation. So Vic found some Excel-based freeware and IDI soon had a somewhat better handled on its supply chain. The catalog retailers could transfer orders online, via email, or by phone and IDI was able to create basic production schedules, plan materials needs, and support fulfillment. An online link to the small package carrier made it easy to schedule pickups and track in-transit freight. Life was getting simpler at IDI.

The company was growing at a manageable pace and then life changed overnight. Unknown to the IDI owners, a Hollywood star used ten Inflate-a-Dome tents at her intimate wedding reception. Bad weather quickly rolled in but the tents performed well, saving the day. The story was picked up by the media and soon Pat and Jeff were being interviewed on national morning shows.

Soon thereafter, inquiries began arrive from sporting goods retailers, the NCAA licensing group, and Amazon.com. The IDI owners were elated that volume was about to explode.

In contrast, Vic was greatly worried that inventory variety was about to greatly expand with tents in new colors and emblazoned with college logos. Also, order size and shipment would no longer be one to four units but 50 to 500. He sensed that the simple SCIS that he had built for spare change would no longer suffice. It was time for a real SCIS that could support major clients. It was time for a strategic planning meeting about technology with Pat and Jeff.

QUESTIONS:

1. As its customer base grows and becomes more diversified, how will the information requirements of the IDI supply chain change?
2. Given its anticipated volume growth and inventory variety expansion, what supply chain capabilities will IDI need?
3. Think of all the different technology we've learned about thus far- both hardware and software. In preparation for the strategic planning meeting, what technology risks must Vic and the team think about?
4. With limited funds available, what Supply Chain Management (SCM) software should Vic recommend? Why?