Running head: MEDITECH SURGICAL CASE
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Meditech Surgical Case
Alex Ng
Liberty University
MEDITECH SURGICAL CASE
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Meditech Surgical Case
What are Meditech’s Problems in Introducing New Products? In Manufacturing All
Products?
Meditech failed to keep up with their customer’s initial order and their delivery service
were poor. Most customers had to wait over six weeks for their products. Meditech’s competitor,
National Medical sells directly to surgeon, whereas, Meditech sells to hospitals, material
managers as well as to surgeons. The problem is that an accurate supply and demand cannot be
achieved when ordering is based on cost and deliver by material managers. This caused an
inconsistency in the ordering process, where material managers may panic purchase due to the
need of the surgeons. National Medical maintains that consistency by selling to surgeons.
In manufacturing all products, the operations organization hierarchy is centralized where
interpersonal communication is lacking. All reports are sent to the top without communicating
between the various departments.
What is Driving the Problems Systematically and Organizationally?
The lack of collaboration between the departments and its centralizing of information are
hurting Meditech’s production planning and scheduling. “Decentralization in process modeling
also allows process change to be performed by the process users on their own (individual) model
rather than a central group maintaining organization's overall system. This helps by increasing
employee involvement, which fosters problem solving and process improvement. Participation
and commitment allow employees to make decisions and this makes it possible to reorganize
rapidly to change, creating an environment of ownership” (Turetken & Demirors, 2011, p236).
The departments are not collaborating on managing uncertainties and risks. The did not invest
ample time into the planning and design phase of the development chain. The make/buy
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decisions and early supplier involvement were not considered. Other uncertainties include the
delivery lead times, manufacturing yields, transportation times and component availability.
Meditech heavily relied on their annual forecast which is unreliable because forecasting doesn’t
solve problems. Also, selling mainly to material managers who focus on reducing cost instead of
accurate demands of physicians, would likely increase risks significantly
Why is the Customer Service Manager First to Recognize the Issue?
Customer Service representatives have as direct contact with their customers. They
receive status on the deliveries to their customers and receive complaints and recommendations
for improvements. All pertinent customer-related information is sent to the Customer Service
Manager, so he or she can determine the validity and viability of the complaint or
recommendation. Customer Service Managers need to use all methods to interact with their
customers, like all social media platforms and traditional methods like hard copy surveys and
mails. “Firms would need guidance on navigating competition and connecting with their
customers. A country's technological capabilities is another challenge area for firms worldwide”
(Kumar, Rajan, Gupta & Pozza, 2019, p. 3).
How Would you Fix these Problems?
First, Meditech is rushing out products without conducting a thorough planning and
designing phase. It involves the product architecture, the make/buy, and early supplier
involvement. It is essential to determine what they could make internally and what should be
purchase from an outside supplier. After determining the source, they need to determine strategic
partnerships, supplier selection and supply contracts.
The sharing of information is key to keeping everyone informed and expedite production
while eliminating errors to save time. This could be accomplished with a centralized enterprise
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system so each department manager could communicate across the organization and track the
progress and status of the company’s products. Based off the forecasting and assessment of their
competitors, Meditech needs to adjust to recent trends, like the need for lean manufacturing,
outsourcing and offshoring on cost reduction. For those initial push of new products, Meditech
should use third-party supply and transportation services. Establish a contract to ensure the
consistency of delivery products to the end-users.
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Summary
Kumar, V., Rajan, B., Gupta, S., & Pozza, I. D. (2019). Customer engagement in service. Journal
of the Academy of Marketing Science, 47(1), doi: 10.1007/s11747-017-0565-2
Turetken, O., & Deminrors, O. (2011). Plural: A decentralized business process modeling
method. Information & Management, 48(6), 235-247. doi: 10.1016/j.im.2011.06.001
