Bottlenecks Case - Innovation Car Company

To begin, Innovation Car Company has decided to use Japan as a supplier for their rolling transmitter. In recent years Japan has been recognized for their vast knowledge in the automotive industry, by creating new technology that beats competing countries. Also, Japan has focused their efforts on improving their supply chain management. They have improved their supply chain management by working with their customers and suppliers to see where changes need to be made.

Furthermore, as long as a company is producing products bottlenecks will occur. A bottleneck is defined as a "stage in a process that causes a process to slow down or stop" (Bigelow & Carrero, 2001). When a bottleneck occurs it can be costly for the company which can affect production and profits. A bottleneck that a Japanese supplier would need to be concerned with is nature. Since Japan is located in the Pacific and sits on a fault line the country is more prone to earthquakes and tsunamis. Subsequently Japan was affected by a massive earthquake and tsunami within the past year. During Japan's recovery stage there were several bottlenecks that arose. These bottlenecks consisted of transportation and shipping issues along with decreased production of products and services. Not only did the earthquake affect Japan's economy it also affected the global economy which included the global supply chain. Since Japan is a crucial supplier of electronic parts that includes the rolling transmitters for keyless entry fobs the earthquake caused many of the manufacturing plants to shut down for several days. Many of the keyless entry fob production plants were miles away from the starting point of the earthquake, but there was still the issue of transporting the final product to the customers. A bottleneck that occurs from a natural disaster if a supplier has the knowledge of how a disaster such as this would affect their business then the supplier would have the ability to put a disaster plan in place which would help keep bottlenecks from occurring to a minimal.

To continue, another bottleneck that may cause a decrease in production is the supplier's culture. Japan's culture is important in regards to recovery, reaction, and preserving the global supply chain. The Japanese culture is a resilient culture which is based on Gaman. The Gaman culture is based on enduring what may seem as impossible. They use patience and dignity to overcome difficult situations. Based on this type of culture when Japan sustained massive damage to their manufacturing plants they were able to take things in stride and continue to work despite the recent tragedy. Japan has proven that they have their own brand of culture which is based on a respect for social order. Having a respect for social order allows them to work through disasters in order to maintain their supply chain and not allow for any disruption. Even though Japan has a strong culture base, Innovation