North Pole Inc. $-$ Case Study Located in the North Pole, Santas Workshop Inc. operates production facilities for their annual delivery of gifts to nearly $2$ billion children worldwide, on Christmas Eve. They segment the market between naughty and nice, however Santa and his elves are always able to find something nice in every child. Management Santas Workshop has become more sophisticated over the years to keep up with the fast$-$ paced technological advances and management approaches. They operate administrative offices, pre$-$production offices, production, and distribution facilities. Each of the divisions has a VP of Operations that reports directly to Santa, who is the de facto CEO of the entire North Pole Operation. Within each of the four divisions, various departments are responsible for different functions. In the Production Division, there are $27$ departments that manufacture different categories of toys, each with their own Director of Operations. Santas Workshop employs more than $15,000$ elves and is directly or indirectly responsible for all other commercial activity in the North Pole. They have followed the Total Quality Management $($TQM$)$ approach since the early $90$s$.$ Santa read The Toyota Way last year and made it required reading for his entire management team. He was intrigued by how such a large company was able to remove waste in all production processes and gain better control of quality. Supply Chain For the most part, Santas Workshop sources raw materials and component parts from around the globe for the production of toys. These raw materials are generally delivered from suppliers via cargo ships to the Port of the North Pole. Once arrived, the Yetis who work at the port, unload the containers to rail cars which are then transported via the Polar Express Train, with dedicated tracks leading directly into Santas Workshop receiving bays. The cargo ships often experience delays due to sea ice and inclement weather. To avoid delays, more than $70\%$ of raw material shipments are received between June and August. For example, some of the raw materials inventory for January $2021$ production will arrive by midSeptember $2020$ at the latest. Because there is a certain level of predictability of demand, Santas Workshop used a combined level production strategy for standard items, and a chase strategy for assemble$-$to$-$order and custom items. This required them to operate double$-$shifts in some departments as they approached December $24$th$.$ To deliver gifts, Santa has a newly acquired, state of the art, zero$-$emissions sleigh and an impressive fleet of flying reindeers that can circle the earth, making stops in every country in less than $24$ hours. Santa felt it was a shame it was only used one day of the year. Demand Over the years, Santas Workshop has been known for their heirloom quality toys; particularly their building blocks, train sets and doll houses. These items has experienced a relatively steady demand over the decades. This reputation also applies to their sewn goods such as Teddy bear