Business Questions

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course Name: Course Code

Due Date
 Operations Forecasting

My selected business is Red Wing Shoe Company for manufacturing shoes in the U.S.

and U.K. but operates worldwide. The major stores are found in the United States and the United

Kingdom, with other stores distributed in other foreign countries. This paper looks at one of the

service Systems Company uses to process the shoe payment, track cash in and out, monitor the

inventory, and monitor the day-to-day activities associated with the shoe store's business

operation. The point of sale (POS) is a critically important system used to the cash flow at each

company's shop outlet. According to King (2020), a Point of Sale System is a software program

that processes transactions and, in return, produces a report of the transaction. For any company

to keep track of the business transactions and manage the company tabs, there is a need for such

a company to use a POS system to achieve this. POS systems are user-friendly and can monitor

the inventory based on the shoe type, size, model, etc.

The service system chosen to be implemented by the company is ToastToast. For

instance, Toast as a service system offers the experience as far as the POS system is concerned.

Basing on the website software advice, Toast is the best in the POS, and therefore it is ranked the

top systems to be used in POS. Additionally, when choosing a POS system for a company, one

must be keen on making a selection that will make selling as fast and effective as possible

(Manan & Ridzwian, 2019). The POS is considered the brain of the operations in a business. For

instance, a company may want to effectively and efficiently serve their customers faster to avoid

crowding at the point of making payments. Toast system ensures customers are served at a

considerate speed to give room for the next customer to access the payment method.
 Furthermore, Toast systems have proven to be reliable and also is easy to learn how it

operates. Using Toast systems as the POS software system creates a sense of great experience in

both the customers and the one operating it. As it was known, customers feel good when they

experience greatness when shopping. Efficient and fast serving creates the best experience

among the customers and hence tend to become repetitive customers. This incredible experience

can help the company to win customers' loyalty. Sometimes, it is not all about the brand quality

and the company's quality of services. Such a customer experience leaves the customer satisfied.

Generally, whatever has merits must also have demerits, although they might not be in

the same proportion. It will a lie to say that the Toast system is a hundred percent perfect.

Therefore the decision is based on what will best work for your company to achieve its

operational objectives. According to the Finances Online website, the more vital details on the

advantages and disadvantages are pinned down. Toast provides a wide range of services that

includes customer transactions, supports digital and gift card programs, and monitors employees.

It has a feature that allows the preparation of schedules and tracking team members' time (Baker,

2020). Although ToastToast has all the features mentioned above, sometimes the systems

experience lag, mostly when input is high volume. Baker (2020) asserted that the system could

be accessed remotely either via a phone or a laptop. From this, it can be concluded that the Toast

system software is compatible with Android gadgets. Toast system's user interface is not

appealing since it lacks a modern or sleek compared to other POS software. The merits of

ToastToast supersedes its demerits. Selection can be made based on the merits and demerits of

the software and the operational need to be solved.

Supply Chain Operations Plan

 The company started and operated majorly in the U.S. and U.K., but it has international

markets. The company deals in the designing, production, and marketing of footwear. The

company's products are either sold at their retail shops or via online sales and uncountable

distributors. The company produces a wide range of footwear. These include shoes designed for

different climatic conditions, weather, and activities. For instance, they produce footwear for

football, golf, outdoor activities, wrestling, athletic, and cheerleading, among many more.

However, the company specializes in purpose-built footwear, mainly work and outdoor footwear

products.

Supply Chain Overview

The primary business operation taking place at the company is the marketing of the

product developed. The company had been manufacturing outdoor footwear since 1905. Its two

factories are located in Minnesota and Missouri. As earlier mentioned, its product is sold on a

global scale. In 2008, the company implemented a sales and operation process. The

implementation affected the supply chain process.

Supply Chain Framework

There are three essential frameworks in the supply chain; SC structure, SC business

processes, and SC management. Also, there are three essential structures; members of the SC in,

the network's structural dimension, and type processes links. The SC’s primary members are the

business unit that deals with value-addition, including the company's operational and or

managerial unit. This unit is fundamental, so the Red Wings company decided to hire a person to

occupy its operational unit. These units are designed to produce output based on the customer-

specific taste and preference. Also, supporting members hold a superior position in the supply

chain. These support members supply the company with resources, knowledge, utilities, or the
supply chain's primary members' necessary assets. When discussing the supply chain's structural

dimension, more focus is placed on evaluating and managing the SC. The structural dimension of

the SC can either be horizontal or vertical. Horizontal SC structure implies the number of tiers

that appear across the SC (Lambert & Enz, 2017).

On the other hand, the SC's vertical structure implies either the number of customers or

suppliers within each tier. Notably, any variation in the structure and composition of the SC

structure impacts the supply chain. Therefore, on this basis, there is a need for a company to do

an in-depth analysis before attempting a single change or modification on the supply chain.

To successfully modify supply chain management, there is a need to carefully handle all

the individual processes and functions in the supply chain by integrating the board's activities.

Research results indicate that there are eight SC processes. These SC processes include customer

service, customer relationship, demand, order fulfillment, manufacturing flow, procurement,

product development and commercialization, and returns. Successful interactions between the

eight SC processes result in the company's successes. The company will be able to achieve the

following, as illustrated below.

 Supply Chain Processes

Sourcing Strategy

As a company, sourcing strategy determines whether the company is going to make a

profit or not. There is a need for the company to get more insights on design, distribution,

marketing, and, most importantly, sourcing raw materials (Hugos, 2018). Red Wing Company

should adopt the archetype of global sourcing strategy. This is the best-known sourcing strategy

since it ensures high profitability. There is a need to source a commodity chain that provides the

best tactical and geographical mobility that ensures the company's products sell faster.

Inventory Strategy

This strategy ensures that the company generates high profits while at the same time

minimizing the inventory throughout the supply chain (Christopher, 2016). This strategy sets out

to deploy significant buffers stocks of parts of the finished product.

 In summary, successful mapping and implementation results from getting an in-depth

understanding of the existing issues and therefore devise solutions that are sure to work and not

mess the whole thing up. As earlier mentioned, the supply chain is interconnected to many

entities, and a disruption in one of the entities impacts the whole process. It is critically important

to identify how connection and integration should keep the supply chain on the run. Supply chain

management aims to create the highest possible value. The product supply should be ensured to

be in line with a good supply chain for the company to witness increased sales.
 References

Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson Uk.

CHRISTOPHER, M. I. (2017). Logistics & supply chain management.

Hugos, M. H. (2018). Essentials of supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.

Lambert, D. M., & Enz, M. G. (2017). Issues in supply chain management: Progress and

potential. Industrial Marketing Management, 62, 1-16.

Manan, W. D. W. A., & Ridzwian, A. A. B. M. (2019). A point-of-sale system for measuring

sales performance. International Journal of Advanced Trends in Computer Science and

Engineering, 8(1.5 Spe), 151-155.