Supply Chain Management

Final Project
Submitted To:

Sir Ashiq Abbasi

Submitted By:
Ahmed Hasan

(01-211062-005)

Fakhar Zaman

(01-211062-024)

Hammed M. Mushtaq

(01-211062-026)

Mir Usman Iqbal

(01-211062-036)

Bahria University of Management and

Computer Sciences

Table Of Contents
Noble Packs Carton Makers........................................................................................ 4
History and Owners Experience..................................................................................5
Mission Statement...................................................................................................... 6
Products...................................................................................................................... 6
Supply......................................................................................................................... 7
Manufacturing............................................................................................................ 8
Manufacturing Process:........................................................................................... 9
Pasting Machine.................................................................................................... 12
Rotary Machine..................................................................................................... 13
Slotting Machine.................................................................................................... 14
Pin Machine........................................................................................................... 14
Distribution............................................................................................................... 15
Customers................................................................................................................ 16
How to choose Customer:...................................................................................... 16
Sample for Customer............................................................................................. 17
Supply to Customers............................................................................................. 17
Customer Order Process Diagram............................................................................ 18
Information Handling and Decision Making..............................................................19
Decision Making........................................................................................................ 20
Companys Information and capacity Contents........................................................22
Information Handling:............................................................................................... 23
Flexible Machines:.................................................................................................... 23
Distribution Network:................................................................................................ 24
Manufacturer Storage with Direct Shipping..............................................................26

Response Time...................................................................................................... 26
Product Variety...................................................................................................... 26
Product Availability................................................................................................ 27
Customer experience............................................................................................ 27
Time to Market...................................................................................................... 27
Order Visibility....................................................................................................... 27
Return ability......................................................................................................... 28
Inventory............................................................................................................... 28
Transportation....................................................................................................... 28
Facilities and Handling.......................................................................................... 29
Information............................................................................................................ 29
NOBLE PACKS STORAGE WITH DIRCT SHIPPING.......................................................30
Our Experience......................................................................................................... 31
Recommendations.................................................................................................... 32

NOBLE PACKS CARTON MAKERS

Noble Packs Carton Makers factory is located at Lahore in Farooq Industrial

State at Ferozpur Road Lahore. It was established 1997. The main working of
this factory includes manufacturing and trading of the finished goods i.e.
cartons and rolls. Also supply of raw materials and semi prepared product is
done. It is a customer driven company.

HISTORY AND OWNERS EXPERIENCE

Noble Packs was founded by Nazar Hussain in 1997. After retiring from
the Pakistan Army, they shifted to Lahore. One of their friends advised him to
visit another friends factory who taught them the carton making art and its
workings. After learning all the major field aspects he started working on his
own at a rented place with two machines for carton making. For first three
months, the company received no order from any company. The first order
was from the Rice mills for 400 cartons. After that orders started coming
from the spinning mills and garment factories.

There are a lot of competitors. Over 2600 carton making factories are
setup in Lahore out of which 1700-1800 are functional. The others are closed
due some lawsuits and other problems. Out of the functional factories 700800are the most active competitors but NOBLE PACKS edge is the quality of
the services and the product.
After 6 years the company bought its own place and started working
there. The company now owns 2 corrugators, 2 pasting machines, Rotary
machines, slotting and pin machines.

MISSION STATEMENT
Providing 'Quality Products, Excellent Service, Competitive Prices and Prompt
Delivery'

PRODUCTS

Noble Packs manufacture single ply, double ply, triple ply, five ply, seven ply
corrugated cardboards to accommodate any shipping needs, They have different
flutes to satisfy any specific requirements, also cartons can be printed with graphics
in 1 to 2 colors printing and screen printing.
Their main products: Corrugated Cartons (RSC) of all sizes and types, Die-cut
Boxes, Pined Boxes, Paper Packaging Products.

SUPPLY
The company supplys finished goods i.e. cartons as well as semi
manufactured material called rolls.
The paper used to make cartons is of both imported and internal. Outside
covering of carton is done by imported paper while inside covering is done
from the home made paper.
Main suppliers of paper from outside Pakistan are Brazil, Sweden, Australia,
Italy etc. Various types of papers are imported from various suppliers. Paper
reels are imported that are on a later stage of manufacturing converted into
rolls. Different types of papers are water proof and non water proof also
representing different type of quality.
A carton is made from 3-7 plys depending upon the customers request.
NOBLE PACKS manufactures cartons from the size of an iron to a Refrigerator
hence making it possible to make any types of cartons. It supplys according
to the customer needs, as said earlier being a customer driven company.

Customer demand is always known so production is done in reaction of

customer needs. Certain customers are on-going customers always places
order once in a month when their inventory needs replenishment. Like any
company for the first time asks for 30000 cartons although it needs only
20000 cartons and keeps 10000 as safety inventory in case if NOBLE PACKS
is unable to provide due to any problems. And the circulation continues
every month after that with 20000 cartons.
The semi manufactured product i.e. rolls are bought and the respective
company itself makes it into cartons by processing making NOBLE PACKS
more efficient as it only manufactures half of the product and then sells it to
buyers for other processing.
The papers imported from other countries are delivered to their Distribution
Centers mainly situated in Karachi. After that the papers are acquired in
accordance to their need in the factory through trucks. Also products
delivered to the companies are delivered with rented trucks. The rent is
divided among both the parties as per decided in the contract.
20 factories or more have no corrugator, thats why they directly take the
rolls from NOBLE PACKS.
Different types of raw materials are used as per instructions provided by the
customers.

MANUFACTURING
The

manufacturing

process

includes

corrugators,

pasting

and

rotary

machines, slotting machine and Pin machines. NOBLE PACKS owns all these
machines thats why it supplies both finished and the semi manufactured
product i.e. rolls to those factories or companies who dont own corrugators
for rolling function.

The company owns 2 corrugators, 2 pasting machines, Rotary machines,

slotting and pin machines and has the capacity to produce cartons of any
size as well as any quantity. For instance, the company can produce more
than 400000 carton rolls and cartons. However if the workload is more the
company hires extra staff to lessen the load.

MANUFACTURING PROCESS:
The first step involved in the manufacturing process is done by the
corrugators as shown in the Figure below.

The corrugator converts the raw material i.e. paper reels into rolls making
them 2 ply or 5 plys as required by the customer. Two paper reels circulates
at one time and are joined together by sticking them together by adhesives
like sodium silicate, starch adhesive. The two paper reels are pasted
together with the help of the corrugator.

PASTING MACHINE

The pasting machine pastes the two plys made by the corrugator with a
third paper thus making a paper roll. This is a 3 ply carton. If the customer
wishes to have a carton made up of 5 or 7 plys then the same 3 ply carton
rolls is pasted with another 2 ply roll from the corrugator and so on if
needed.

ROTARY MACHINE

The Rotary machine bends the carton paper according the size desired by
the customer. It consists of horizontal and vertical bending. Three things are
kept in mind while determining the size of carton, its length, width and
height. Also the waste paper is cut in the rotary machine. For example if the
size of carton is 10/10/10 meaning 10 meter of length, 10 meter of width and
10 of height then 10 of height and 10 of width plus an extra 1 meter is added
for fine finishing. Similarly 10 of length and 10 of width multiply by 2 plus 2 is
done as carton is in a cube shape thats why we multiply it with 2 for
finishing.

(10 + 10) x 2 + 2
Length Width

Extra paper for finishing

SLOTTING MACHINE
It eases the bending and is also used to cut the bends.

PIN MACHINE
As the cutting of the paper and their corrugation is in the form
of sheets, the Pin machine is used to fold that sheet and convert that sheet
in box shape cartoon by suture the one side of sheet with other one. The use
of pin machine depends upon customer order. Some customers do not want
pin in their carton. They prefer some glue material to attach the both sides of
sheets.

After passing through all these machines the cartons are sent to the printing
press for the printing of the cover of the product that needs to be put into it.
The covers format is given by the customer company to the printer press.
After printing the cover the carton is fully manufactured and delivered to the
required customer and the contract is finished.

DISTRIBUTION
NOBLE PACKS does not have any Distribution Center. As it is situated in
the heart of Industrial area of Lahore, it can supply directly to its customers
from the factory. The customer places an order for cartons or rolls and the
company sends it directly through trucks to factories for packing or more
processing in case of roll supplying to those factories who cannot make rolls
themselves but can do further processing needed after roll making. Thus by
delivering directly to its customers, NOBLE PACKS have created a very good
Customer Relation as well as goodwill for its good quality of cartons.
Distribution cycles are also determined by the customers who want to
continue their supply monthly like if a company wants 20000 cartons, its up
to them whether they want their cartons to be delivered monthly, weekly or
daily basis.
The trucks are rented for making deliveries. Separate locations have
separate truck rentals for example if any order comes from Sargodha Mills,
trucks making deliveries from Sargodha to Lahore are hired as they also
have to go back to Sargodha and dont want to go empty. That same truck
wont be used for making delivery to Gujranwala but trucks that are available
for Gujranwala region will be hired. Trucks for different locations are present
for hiring.
It acts as a retailer also because it directly sells its product to its
customers.

CUSTOMERS
Customers being the most integral part of supply chain. The
customers of NOBLE PACKS based on pull strategy. After receiving the
customer orders, the manufacturing process starts. Main customers of
NOBLE PACKS are as follow:

KOHINOOR SPINNING MILLS

CHAKWAL SPINNING MILLS

BRIDO COSMETICS

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES

ELECTRONIC GOODS MANUFACTURERS

NOBLE PACKS value their customers by being more responsive and

efficient. Customer orders are fully satisfied by making an accurate
sample of their desired product design. Product designs depends upon the
customers. Different Companies and factories have special need of
diverse size and shapes of cartons.

HOW

TO CHOOSE CUSTOMER:
The first thing they do is get a list of all the companies, firms and factories

that use corrugated cartons. Then the marketing starts, they visit each location and
give them a brief introduction about their product, then ask them to try Noble
packs. If anyone is interested in Noble Packs, they provide them with samples either
printed or plain so as to tell them that this is the kind of product they are getting at

this particular price. If Noble packs can provide them with a better quality product
with low cost then they would love to do business with them. The personnel from
Noble packs then bring the samples to the factory and then the samples are
analyzed.

The factory provides the clients with some samples so they have an idea of
the product that will be delivered to them along with a quotation. The samples are
then examined and approved by the clients after testing for bursting power etc. The
testing is done by applying pressure to the samples to check how much weight they
can carry and at what level they will burst. If the sample is approved the order is
then given to Noble Packs.

Customers are selected by first negotiating with them about their desired
design. Terms and conditions are initially decided and then adapt them in
written form. Financial matter regarding customer orders decided in this
phase.

SAMPLE

FOR

CUSTOMER

NOBLE PACKS makes the samples of customer desired order and then
after confirmation of the sample from the customer, the manufacturing
process for the whole order starts.

SUPPLY

TO

CUSTOMERS

Customer orders are delivered according to terms and conditions as

decided in contract. Delivery charges decided by both the parties according

to contract. Large containers are usually hired for this purpose as cartons
need unique temperature.

CUSTOMER ORDER PROCESS DIAGRAM

IMPORTED PAPER

LOCAL
PAPERS

RAW
MATERIAL
SUPPLIERS

NOBLE
PACKS
Manufacturers &
Distributors

CUSTOMERS
WAREHOUSE
S

(INDUSTRIES and
FACTORIES)

Noble Packs customers come from a varied range of industries including

electrical, toys, food & drink and etc; their products are highly recommended and
adopted by many national and international corporations.

Some of 0ther Major clients of Noble Packs are:

Vimto

Grease

Fruit Exporters

INFORMATION HANDLING AND DECISION MAKING

Proper organization of information is done. Proper planning is done
before the company has to make decisions regarding new investments like
producing huge orders or buying new machinery for increasing capacity of
the facility. NOBLE PACKS focuses on both being responsive and cost
efficient.
Information infrastructure involves direct communication with its suppliers
and to whom it is supplying. Flow of information, funds and product is done
in all the stages of the supply chain. Information is provided to the supplier
when an order is placed for raw materials acquisition. Funds are also flowed

by NOBLE PACKS and the supplier delivers the product i.e. the raw material
(reels).
Contracts, purchase orders, material acquisition orders are all done on paper
basis and in writing so that proof can be provided if any fault occurs. NOBLE
PACKS maintains its information system on single computer based database
system which includes the companys all classified information relating its
assets, its most loyal customers, order information, financial statements,
budgets both current and forecasted.

The flow of information, product and funds when NOBLE PACKS acts as
a supplier is when the customer places an order for cartons or semi
manufactured product. The customer provides information that when, how,
where, how much, what is the product needed and also tells the price it is
willing to pay for that order and product. Negotiations are done if any
changes have to be made for any aspect of the supply chain as which
delivery system must be used (air, road). Who will pay the rent? If shared,
what will be its division? All this information is flowing through the supply
chain during a single transaction. And product is afterwards delivered to the
desired location.

DECISION MAKING
The companys decision making is done with the consent of its
financial managers, lawyers, labor union heads and the Chairman itself. If

the company is thinking of taking a huge order of making cartons a meeting

is called of all the above mentioned people and opinions are taken. The
financial manager provides information whether the company has the
financial resources to cater such an order, the lawyer makes the contract
and check if theres any unwilling clauses in the contract or any ambiguity
that can make negative consequences. The labor union head provides
information whether the labor number is enough to do the job or not. If not
more skilled labors are hired for the specific job. All the decision making is
done on the basis of having a proper information infrastructure and proper
planning which NOBLE PACKS does not lack.

NOBLE PACK also makes decisions in respect of purchasing the raw

materials from different suppliers. These decisions are in accordance with
the financial basis as established by the Chairman. This means the NOBLE
PACKS also behaves like a customer when making transactions with its
suppliers. Noble packs makes decisions when it is behaving like a customer
about paper quality from suppliers, Inbound transportation of raw material
and about the space required for the raw material in the factory. Important
decisions were made for timely fulfilling of customer orders which increases
the NOBLE PACKS popularity in the market. The decision about facilities are
also made by the NOBLE PACKS owner. He prefers the warehouses in the
perimeter of factory which decreases its extra capacity cost.

In decision making, NOBLE PACKS thinks several times in order to align

their manufacturing process and order fulfilling date. The maintenance of

the factory and its machinery needs proper weekly decisions which enhances
the life of the machinery. NOBLE PACK pays special attention in making
decision regarding with its budget in which yearly budget is being made
which included all the expenses and revenues of the firm. And all these
decisions are made by the owner of the Noble Packs.

COMPANYS INFORMATION AND CAPACITY CONTENTS

The company is situated in Lahores Farooq Industrial State at Ferozpur
Road. It consists of two corrugators, two pasting machines, Rotary machines,
slotting and pin machines. All these machines perform separately to make
end product i.e. cartons. The company also owns 1 machine that performs
the function of making cartons in just 1 place. This machine plays the role of
all corrugators, pasting, rotary and pin machines.
The facilitys capacity is to produce any number of cartons from the
size of an electric iron to an air split or refrigerator. The facility has the
capacity to produce unlimited cartons provided that there is time. It can
meet any orders of any number of cartons.

INFORMATION HANDLING:
All the information is handled by company manager as guided by the
chairman. Information is passed to low level employees by managers about
the working. Information regarding customers orders is completely operated
by chairman of the NOBLE PACKS.

FLEXIBLE MACHINES:
As mentioned earlier carton for electric iron to refrigerator can also
be made as machines have flexibility of changing the length of cutting and
pasting.

According to factories law, any production facility or factory must have

a green corner in its premises so NOBLE PACKS also have a green patch
inside its premises.

DISTRIBUTION NETWORK:

NOBLE PACKS distribution network is highly responsive and efficient

because customer orders are fulfilled timely. Distribution network of NOBLE
PACKS is Manufacturer storage with direct shipping and manufacturer
storage with direct shipping and in-transit merge. In this Option, Inventory is
held with the Noble Packs in warehouses which is located in the premises of
factory. The raw material came from supplier is kept in factory warehouse
and process along the manufacturing as per order of the customer. Customer
orders are delivered through trucks from the warehouse. NOBLE PACKS
saves its warehousing cost as warehouse is located in the factory.
NOBLE PACKS evaluates the impact on customer service and cost as it
compares different distribution network options. The customer needs that
are met influence the NOBLE PACKS revenues, which along with cost decide
the profitability of the delivery network.
Although customer service consists of many components, we focus on
these measures that are influenced by the structure of distribution network
which is distributor storage with carrier delivery.

MANUFACTURER STORAGE WITH DIRECT SHIPPING

In this option, product is shipped directly from the NOBLE PACKS to the
end customer. Information flow from the customer, via the retailer or agent,
to the NOBLE PACKS, and the product is directly shipped from the NOBLE
PACKS to the customers.
The biggest advantage of drop-shipping is the ability to centralize
inventories at the NOBLE PACKS. One of another advantage which NOBLE
PACKS have is that the retailer and agents level is also owned by them.
Which results in the accurate inflow of information and accurate
manufacturing according to that information.

RESPONSE TIME
The response time of NOBLE PACKS by this distribution network is not
so faster because it has only one warehouse which is in the premises of
factory located at Lahore and also Response time may vary from product to
product, thus complicating receiving.

PRODUCT VARIETY
NOBLE PACKS capacity of making different product for different
customers provides large product variety. Because cartons are made in 3 -7
ply. It depends on customers to tell NOBLE PACKS which type of variety they
want.

PRODUCT AVAILABILITY
It is easy for NOBLE PACKS to provide a high level of product
availability Because of aggregation at Noble packs.

CUSTOMER

EXPERIENCE

It is very good in terms of delivery to the customers place. But it is

note good if customer requirement for carton is very high so the other
manufacturer is needed to fulfill customer requirement.

TIME

TO

MARKET

If Noble packs designs some new kind of carton, then it can quickly
show it to their customer because already the link between customer and
NOBLE PAKCS.

ORDER VISIBILITY
It is more difficult for NOBLE PACKS to visible the location of
order but also it is very important from the customer services prespective.

RETURN

ABILITY

As NOBLE PACKS manufacture only customized products by

showing the sample first. By this there are very rare chances for return
ability. If any one of the order would be returned then it is very expensive
and difficule for NOBLE PACKS to implement.
This distribution network of NOBLE PACKS also effect the cost factors. The
description is as follow.

INVENTORY
NOBLE PACKS inventory cost is very less because of aggregation of
inventory at warehouse which is located in the boundary of factory. So there
is no need to open other facility which increases the inventory cost,

TRANSPORTATION
NOBLE PACKS has high cost of transportation because of
increased distance and disaggregate shipping. As we wrote in our project
that different order comes from

different customers which is fulfilled

according to the terms and conditions decided first. So different customers

have different time of fulfilling order. Then the transportation would be
according to that time. Which higher the cost. For example, NOBLE PACKS
sends it transportation for order which is given at 20 th of the month. And if
any order is given to 26th or 27th, again the transportation will move to fulfill
that order.

FACILITIES

AND

HANDLING
NOBLE PACKS has lower facility cost because of

aggregation of inventory at the warehouse located in the factory. Some

saving on handling costs if NOBLE PACKS can manage small shipment or ship
from direct production line. But this wont happens because there are too
many orders to fulfill and handling of warehouse for these orders increases
the handling cost.

INFORMATION
NOBLE PACKS information infrastructure is quite good because the
agents and retailers belongs to NOBLE PACKS. And much of the information handled
by the NOBLE PACKS itself. So there is no need to do significant investment in
information Infrastructure to integrate NOBLE PACKS and its retailers.

NOBLE PACKS STORAGE WITH DIRCT

SHIPPING

NOBLE PACKS
Manufacturers
Agent/Retailer
of NOBLE PACKS

CUSTOMER

KOHINOOR SPIINNING MILL

PRODUCT FLOW
INFORMATION FLOW

Customer

BRIDO COSMETICS

OUR EXPERIENCE

This project was a wonderful way for us to understand the importance and
basic concepts of the subject being applied in practical life. It gave us a real world

experience to help us in better application of what we have learned regarding this

course and other management courses as well e.g. human resource management,
marketing etc.

It was a very interesting and learning experience as we never thought what

actually goes behind making a product. There are so many nitty gritty details to
analyze that it is difficult for one to understand if one has not seen and analyzed the
process in person.

We are grateful to our teacher Sir Ashiq Abbasi for assisting and supporting
us whenever needed and also giving us such a wonderful opportunity to understand
and explore a different side of the business.

RECOMMENDATIONS
After thorough analysis of Nobel Packs we came up with some
recommendations which will help the company to excel. The
recommendations are:

As all the Manufacturing process is being done by manual labor, the

company should now move toward Automation process by training
their employees the skills and techniques. This shift will help the
company in fast production by producing large orders in less time
making the client more satisfied and responsive.

The company should hire some Marketing expertise for it to expand

nation wide according to the owner the finance is not the problem, the

problem is to go in the market in search of clients so this problem is be

solved by hiring marketing force which will help the company to get
new clients and increase their business in terms of both Manufacturing
as well as trading.

The company is young so it needs to think over these issues

mentioned above in order to grow and become more active in the
market.