Process Designs and Supply Chains Coca Cola Company Shamyria Minor OPS/571

Supply Chain for Coca Cola Company Coca Cola Company, a multinational beverage corporation is a manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is headquartered in Atlanta Georgia and it owns its anchor bottler, the Coca-Cola Refreshments in North America. It has more than 500 brands with over 3500 kinds of beverages all over the world. The company’s global supply chain is a complex network of plants, warehouses, bottlers, customers and multiple product lines. Since it is a multinational company, it has a more intensive supply chain process. The chain has two main components, the information flow and material flow components. The information flow process deals with orders, schedules and forecasts and it incorporates the manufacturers, assemblers, suppliers, retailers and customers. The material flow process on the other hand deals with production, supplies and deliveries and it involves materials, parts manufacture, product assembly, sales and consumption. The supply chain process of the company is divided into several stages namely customers, retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers and component or raw material suppliers (Mohamed, & Omwenga, 2015).

A Coke and a Smile  Coca Cola company operates on a global supply chain while meeting the demands of its customers locally. The company uses a customer-driven supply chain approach. Operates on the principle of having very few stock keeping units. Uses a centralized management system for visibility of its facilities. Although the supply chain of the company is technically global, meeting the demand of its customers is distinctly a local proposition. The company operates locally in every market it serves with its local bottling plants serving the needs of specific customers. It has a customer-driven supply chain in its approach to international business. It has the world’s largest lean six sigma operations to enable it leverage best practices and programs. Segmentation is another approach the company uses in its supply chain structure to meet the local needs and ensure fulfillment for its customers. The firm applies the principle of high collaboration with suppliers so ensure that best practices are used in the buying process. It also operates on the principle of having very few Stock Keeping Units in its operations. The firm operates on a centralized management system to allow for visibility in all facilities and fast rerun of forecasting and production plans (Kumar, Teichman, & Timpernagel, 2012).

AS IS Process flow chart Production process Manufacturing Coca Cola is mainly done by the franchisees who are the world’s leading bottling and canning companies. The company strictly controls the franchise business and the manufacturing techniques are continually improved to meet the highest quality standards. Production and manufacturing of Coca Cola involves two major operations namely creating the packaging material and then bottling and canning the finished drink. The whole process is based on safety standards and quality for customer satisfaction. The company has invested in more advanced packaging materials that are light and extremely strong and which can be reprocessed after the initial use. The cans are delivered to the canning plant in bulk where they are inspected to ensure there are no faults. They are then rinsed by a machine to make them clean and ready for filling. Coca Cola is a combination of a liquid sweetener and a concentrated beverage base that are combined to form the syrup which makes the drink. The concentrate is shipped by the company to the bottling and canning plants where the franchisees mix it with sugar and local water. The water is then passed through a number of filters to make sure it is absolutely pure. Carbon dioxide which makes the drink fizzy is then delivered to the canning plant and is then stored and piped into the manufacturing process through a carbonator and cooler. The equipments to be used by the franchisees to carry out the processes are specified by the company. Samples are then taken regularly for chemical analysis and spot checks are made by the staff to ensure maintenance of cleanliness and quality standards. The cans are then filled with the drink and an individual code is stamped on the cans so that each of them can easily be traced back to the point and time of production. A date code is the stamped to ensure product freshness. The whole manufacturing process is carried out by a set of processes called continuous flow production which uses a computer-controlled automatic equipment to produce goods 24 hours a day (Caro, Corbett, Tan, & Zuidwijk, 2013).

Design Approach for the Production Process Resource productivity is appropriate for this process. The approach encompasses all the broad areas of the company’s operations. It will enable the company to unlock its significant value, minimize costs and ensure stability. The appropriate design approach for the manufacturing process is resource productivity. This is so because resource productivity entails four broad areas namely production, product design, value recovery and supply chain management. This design will enable the company to unlock its significant value, minimize costs while establishing greater operational stability. Resource productivity will help the Coca Cola Company to reduce the amount of energy used in the production process by a greater percentage and also design its products to reduce material use and increase potential for recycling and reuse. This design approach will enable the company to focus attention on resources throughout the value chain and improve its economies while strengthening their value propositions to customers (Mohamed, & Omwenga, 2015).

Metrics used to measure the production process Product safety and quality metric. The metric is applied by testing the products in modern laboratories using state-of-the-art technologies when the products are going through the production process. This metric is endorsed by the company’s system leadership. A maturity testing tool can be used to collect data on the production process. Product and safety quality metric is used to measure the manufacturing process. Consistency in safety and quality metrics are ensured through strong governance and compliance to applicable standards and regulations. The metric is applied by testing the products in modern laboratories using state-of-the-art methods and technologies. The company’s system leadership ensures safety and quality of its products as a primary strategic objective. The management has also put in place programs that use the quality metric to mitigate risks, monitor performance and drive improvement in its manufacturing process. The appropriate tool that can be used to collect data at each stage of the manufacturing process is the maturity test tool. A set of questionnaires can be administered to collect information about the sustainability of packaging materials, precision with which the bottles are filled and whether the customers are satisfied with the packaging or not. The questionnaires can also be used to collect data on how the labeling of the products is done and whether it is according to the best practices of the company. Data on maturity of the coding system is very important to ensure that the product can easily be traced to its production point. Information on the inspection step of the production process should be collected to determine any errors in the production process (Caro, Corbett, Tan, & Zuidwijk, 2013).

References Caro, F., Corbett, C. J., Tan, T., & Zuidwijk, R. (2013). Double counting in supply chain carbon footprinting. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 15(4). Kumar, S., Teichman, S., & Timpernagel, T. (2012). A green supply chain is a requirement for profitability. International Journal of Production Research, 50(5). Mohamed, K. S., & Omwenga, J. (2015). Supply chain risks mitigation strategies adopted by manufacturing firms in Kenya: A case of Coca Cola Company (K). International Academic Journal of Procurement and Supply Chain Management, 1(4). Parmigiani, A., & Rivera-Santos, M. (2015). Sourcing for the base of the pyramid: Constructing supply chains to address voids in subsistence markets.Journal of Operations Management, 33.